Volod glared directly into my eyes. “She got what she deserves. She and you had fair warning and there will be no deals for her life. None.”
Rodán maintained his fixed expression.
“I am willing to tolerate paranorms, but if your kind cannot live in a Vampire-dominated world, they will not live at all. Do you understand, Rodán?”
Rodán’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
“Do you?” Volod’s voice boomed. “I want to hear it.”
Rodán sounded like the calm at the center of a storm before the storm unleashes all its power. “I understand.”
“Take her and begone.” Volod dropped the syringe into a nearby wastebasket. “The head cage and rebreather will remain on your Tracker until you have been escorted out of the compound.”
“Give the Elves to us,” a Vampire shouted.
“Let us bleed them dry,” another Vamp said.
Volod motioned to the Vampires to calm down. “You will have plenty to feed on this night. Every night.”
The rebreather was tightened on my face. Everything had a surreal feel to it. Like this was happening to someone else.
I couldn’t truly comprehend the fact that Volod had injected me. That the virus was now in my body and within forty-eight hours, I would become contagious, and I would start to die soon after. If I did become contagious and if I wasn’t quarantined, thousands of paranorms would become infected. A slow, painful death…
My entire body continued to be numb from shock. I met Rodán’s gaze again and this time I wondered if that was a tear in the corner of his eye.
“Now go,” Volod said to the crowd of Vampires as he waved his hand toward the entrance to the ballroom. “Feed at will and with the freedom we deserve.”
The Vampires cheered, then heckled me some more as they left.
As the Vampires were leaving, I felt a strange sensation, as if I was attached to something moving away from me. I turned my head in just enough time to see Volod walk down the same hallway we had come in.
Was the feeling because he had taken my blood and he had a part of me with him? The thought was so horrible I shoved it away.
Then he was gone. The Vampire who had administered to me one of the most painful ways to die. Slowly, and with the knowledge that there was a cure, but I couldn’t have it.
Even in the haze in my mind I knew I’d get that antiserum to not only save myself, but to save every paranorm from this terrorist of a Vampire.
I thought about the Vampires who had just left to go feed on norms and anger rose up in me. The flux of my emotions combined with everything else was making me more ill.
The Vampires who had taken me from the room where I’d been held prisoner, then strung me up in the ballroom, were the same Vampires who now unfastened the head cage from where I was suspended. The Vampires held me steady as they lowered me to my feet.
Still wearing the head cage and rebreather, I was pushed from the ballroom and back down the hallway, past Volod’s chamber, and to the stairwell. I was still shackled at my elbows, wrists, and ankles.
My mind spun as I shuffled out like a prisoner on death row. I was on death row. In forty-eight hours I would become infectious. Within a short time after that came illness, then ultimately death.
Getting the antiserum in time felt suddenly hopeless. I could barely grasp onto the thought as Rodán followed the four Vampires and me down through the pyramid and outside.
The moment we walked into the night, a blast of cold air hit me full on. I was freezing. It was as if I weren’t Drow and I was fully human. But from what my returning sense of time was telling me, the sun was a few hours yet from rising. Enough time for Vampires to tear apart more innocents in Manhattan.
The Vampires escorted me and Rodán to the huge iron gates of the compound. I watched as the Vamps tossed something near me. My weapons belt. Apparently Volod felt no threat at all from me.
For that one moment I wondered if I would have the opportunity to be a threat to him.
Yes, I will be a threat to the vile creature.
If I die, he’s coming with me.
That was all there was to it. I had the fervent hope that Vampires went to Underworld or the norm version of Hell.
And I had an even greater hope that I would go on to Summerland, should I pass from this Otherworld. I wasn’t sure Dark Elves went to Summerland, and I wasn’t sure if everything I’d ever done would be counted against me even though I’d been protecting paranorms and norms by doing it.
At the gate the Vampires took the rebreather mask and tanks off me. They unshackled my limbs, then unlocked and unbolted the head cage from my temples and the base of my skull.
Life flowed back into my body and soul. Even through the numbness I felt my magic stir within me. I hadn’t lost it to the virus. Yet.
The moment the Vampires finished releasing me, they backed away. If I didn’t think it might make things worse with Volod, I would have taken them out in an instant. We needed to bide our time and that might make things more trying with the Master Vampire.
I was still a little dizzy and not totally with it as Rodán half carried me through the gate to his waiting red Lamborghini. Rodán practically shoved me in before he climbed into the car and gunned the engine. He spun the sports car away from the compound and onto the dirt road leading away.
My lungs burned and I didn’t think I could catch my breath any time soon. I leaned against the sports car’s seat and tried to grasp hold of reality.
An evil Vampire had just injected me with a virus that could wipe out countless paranorms.
For one moment I would have burst into tears if I could have.
“Nyx.” Rodán looked at me as the Lamborghini tore through the woods as if the car was cushioned all the way around by air. “You will live. We will get the antiserum.”
No words came to me. Nothing. I just watched the road as Rodán drove.
“Do not lose hope. We will come up with a plan that will get us in.” The intensity of his words carried through to my still numb mind. “If there was no antiserum, there would be no hope. But you are alive and the antiserum exists, so there is still hope.”
My throat hurt as I spoke. “I know,” I said in a tired, quiet voice. My voice went from quiet to angry. “I will get it. It may be a suicide mission, but I have nothing to lose. I’ve already been handed a death sentence.”
“The Trackers will get the antiserum and the serum,” Rodán said. “We will meet and determine the best timing and develop a strategy.” He looked at me. “Nothing can stop the Night Trackers when we work together as a team.”
He was right. We couldn’t risk me screwing up on my own and Volod deciding to take the serum and antiserum away from the compound. We needed a team to take him down.
“There are a few things I need to tell you.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my aching temples. The bolts from the head cage had left temporary indents in my head.
When I opened my eyes, I told Rodán everything from my transference into the catacombs to being gassed, and Negel coming to me in glamour.
“The draftsman no doubt finished the layout from my memory when you debriefed me after my first visit to the compound,” I said. “We can add to it from what I saw tonight … before I was captured, and use that for our mission plan.”
An ache in my throat made me wince when I swallowed. “More importantly,” I said, “I believe there is more information we can add to it from what Negel may have learned. Who knows what else Negel saw when he was in the pyramid.”
Rodán nodded. “We will interview Negel before the planning session.”
I thought about what to do with the Sprite. “We should also include him in on the planning session—he’ll be an invaluable resource.”
“Agreed,” Rodán said.
I gave Rodán Negel’s phone number, then frowned. “That’s assuming he got out of the compound.”
“Negel did get out and he gave the other Trackers yo
ur warning and your orders to return to base.” Rodán guided the Lamborghini onto a highway. “That’s how I learned about what happened to you.” He glanced at me. “And how I came to contact Volod for your release.”
“Thank you.” I studied Rodán who had the regal bearing of a prince. “I can’t believe you came for me … I can’t believe you offered your life for mine.”
Rodán’s expression was serious when his gaze met mine again. “You are special to me, Nyx. I could never leave you with the Vampires.” His normally calm expression darkened. “But I never expected them to inject you.”
I rubbed the sore spot on my neck where Volod had bitten me. Such an incredible violation.
All Volod had to do was bite me one more time with intent and I could be “made” into a Vampire. A fact that sent chills through me. I wondered if my Drow half would fight off the infection that allowed Vampires to turn humans.
Then I realized it didn’t matter, and obviously Volod hadn’t intended to turn me because he had just handed me my death sentence. No, he had done it to humiliate me.
I thought again about how I had felt a strange connection to him when he left the room after injecting me and wondered if it had anything to do with the bite. Just thinking about the Master Vampire made my neck tingle.
“Where do you want me to take you?” Rodán’s voice was soothing as he met my gaze with his leaf-green eyes. “You should not be alone tonight.”
I pushed my hair off my cheek and behind my ear. Only one place on this earth Otherworld or any Otherworld was where I wanted to be right now. No matter how much I loved my friends and my parents, right now there was only one person I wanted to be with.
“Take me to Adam’s house.”
* * *
“Nyx?” Adam’s eyes were blurred from sleep as he looked from me to Rodán when we stood on the doorstep of his small house in Brooklyn. “Is everything okay?”
I was still weak from the gas and Rodán was helping to support me with his arm around my shoulders. “No, it’s not okay.” I wasn’t going to lie, but I would say what I truly believed. “But it will be. I intend to make sure of that.”
“I will leave Nyx in your hands,” Rodán said before he turned me so that his gaze met mine. He took my face in his palms, then kissed the top of my head. When he drew away he said, “After you rest, come to the conference room at the Pit. I’ll contact Negel as we discussed as well as notify your team and the other Trackers. I also intend to be in touch with leaders from all of the paranorm races,” he added.
“Thank you, Rodán,” I said quietly. “Thank you for everything.”
Rodán’s expression grew dark. “I didn’t do enough.”
“You were there for me,” I said. “You tried. You offered your life. That means everything.”
Rodán was quiet for a moment. “I’ll let you tell Olivia.” He paused before he said, “Bring Adam with you to the planning meeting.”
I blinked in surprise and Adam looked like cold water had been thrown over him. Rodán had never allowed Adam to join a Tracker meeting.
That Rodán had even let Olivia come to the meetings had been unbelievable. Making her a Tracker had been even more stunning and shocking to all Trackers, including myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so shocked because she was more than equipped to be a Night Tracker, even if she was human.
“What’s going on?” Adam’s demeanor changed almost instantly from someone who had just been dragged out of bed to a tough cop interviewing a witness. “What happened? What do you mean offered his life?”
“I’ll explain.” I laced my fingers through Adam’s, needing to feel him. With my free hand I gave a slight wave to Rodán after he retreated. He eased into his Lamborghini and I watched him drive down the narrow street until the car vanished around a corner.
Adam tugged at my hand and drew me into his house, then closed the door behind us. He took me by my shoulders and he pushed my blue hair away from my cheek as he cupped my face in his palms. “Tell me, Nyx. You’ve got me worried.”
I closed my eyes and rested my cheek in his palm. If somehow we didn’t get the antiserum, these could be my last moments with Adam. I hated to ruin this precious time with him by facing reality, but I didn’t have a choice.
“Nyx?” His tone was growing more and more concerned. He moved his hands and grasped me by my upper arms. “Tell me.”
I opened my eyes and swallowed. I managed to keep my voice steady as I finally got the words out. “Volod injected me. He injected me with the virus.”
The shock in Adam’s brown eyes made my heart hurt. For a moment he just stared at me. Then he released my shoulders, wrapped his arms around me, and he nearly crushed me as he squeezed me to his chest.
I gasped for air, but right then I didn’t care if I couldn’t breathe easily. I could feel Adam’s fear for me as much as I could feel my own fear.
“No.” He started rocking me back and forth. “You’re not going to die from the virus. Not going to happen.”
“I have forty-eight hours.” I said against his T-shirt. “Forty-eight hours before I become contagious and before I start to die if we don’t have the antiserum.”
He drew back and grabbed my face in his hands again, holding me in a firm grip. “I don’t care what it takes. We’re going to get that antiserum.”
I nodded, my cheeks brushing his palms, but I could say nothing.
Adam scooped me up in his arms and my head spun a little with the movement. He carried me to his bedroom where he laid me at the center of the bed.
He settled himself beside me and kissed me so gently, so lovingly, that every kiss was etched into my heart and soul.
“I love you, Nyx.” Adam’s voice was hoarse as he met my gaze. My body felt warm and my skin tingled from head to foot at the surprise of what he’d just told me. “I’m not going to lose you.”
“I love you, too,” I said before I kissed him. “I’ve loved you for a long time, and I don’t plan on leaving you anytime soon.”
Adam kept kissing my lips, my cheeks, my forehead, my hair, until he brought my body against him. His heart was a hard thump beneath my ear as he pressed me close to his chest and held me the few hours until after dawn.
Sleep never came. All I could do was revisit everything that happened last night and what the future held.
In some part, I began to think, what happened to me didn’t matter. What mattered was getting the antiserum and the serum to save countless paranorm lives.
What also mattered was saving innocent humans from being slaughtered, bled to death, or infected and turned into Vampires.
The only way I could help though was to remain alive.
My mind kept racing. I knew my life or death did matter. Not just to me, but to my family, to my friends, and to people who counted on me to protect them. My life mattered.
As Adam held me I nestled in his embrace and allowed myself to feel the comfort of his presence, of his love.
And I stared up at the ceiling and planned.
TWENTY-FOUR
Olivia punched me in my arm the moment she walked up to me and Adam at the back entrance of the Pit.
“Ow.” I rubbed my upper arm. “What was that for?”
“For not including me and Adam last night in your little Vampire compound raid.” Her features grew tight and she was definitely pissed. “And for getting yourself injected with that damned virus.”
Her eyes looked a bit red, but Olivia never cried, so that couldn’t have been it.
I had told her everything over the phone from Adam’s house. I wasn’t sure what her reaction had been because all she said was, “I’ll see you at the Pit.”
When I saw her black shirt I blinked. “There’s nothing on it.” I looked up at her. “You’re wearing a blank T-shirt.”
“Wasn’t feeling particularly funny today.” She leaned toward me. “Although I did almost wear the shirt, ‘Stupid Kills. Unfortunately Not Near Enough.’ ”
&n
bsp; I gave a little smile. “That’s better. I needed that.”
For a moment I thought Olivia might hug me, but she kept to her sarcastic self. That was better than a hug coming from Olivia. It was familiar and made me feel a little more like everything was going to be all right.
It was afternoon, extraordinarily early for Trackers to meet, but this was an emergency situation.
Adam maintained his arm around my shoulders. He’d kept me close ever since I’d gone to his home, like he was afraid I might get away from him.
We slipped in a back entrance of the Pit and went to the conference room from that direction. It was a Friday night and in case the forty-eight hours estimate was wrong, I didn’t want to infect countless paranorms.
I hadn’t even wanted to meet with all of the other Trackers just in case, but Rodán had insisted it would be fine and as a precaution everyone on the team would be given a small dose of the antiserum once we got it.
We would get the serum and antiserum. I refused to doubt otherwise.
My father always told me that doubt leads to uncertainty, uncertainty leads to fear, fear leads to mistakes, mistakes lead to failure.
Drow warriors never entertained doubt.
I am a Drow warrior.
Those feelings I’d have after being injected I tossed aside in favor of what I’d been taught all of my life by my warrior king father.
All of the Trackers were in the room when Adam, Olivia, and I arrived. My cheeks grew hot because of the way each Tracker was looking at me. I couldn’t tell if the anger I saw in some faces was for me or against me, and I didn’t want to acknowledge the concern for me in the eyes of my friends or the look of pity in others’ gazes.
What I did acknowledge was the determination that each Tracker also showed, a determination to accomplish the mission, something every Tracker was trained for extensively.
“The Trackers have been given a choice,” Rodán said before I entered the room and was standing in the doorway. “They have unanimously chosen to be on the team that goes to the Vampire compound to recover the serum and antiserum.”
Vampires Not Invited: A Night Tracker Novel Page 24