Boy of Blood

by Megan O'Russell

  “Right.” Nola hesitated for a moment with her hand on the top of her backpack. Raina had the ReVamp. She had the medical supplies and food.

  My entire worth is in this backpack.

  Nola tightened her fingers on the strap. “I’ll be right back.” She lifted the pack and carried it to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her.

  She closed her eyes and leaned on the door for a moment, letting the quiet of the room echo in her ears. There was no one trying to capture or kill her in here.

  I’m never going to feel safe again.

  When she finally managed to open her eyes, she had to blink a few times to be sure she was seeing everything properly.

  The floor was bright white marble. A heavy white ceramic sink matched the white ceramic tub. A small chandelier provided the light for the room, its reflection glinting off a mirror that covered half the wall. A girl was reflected in the mirror, too. Logic told Nola it was her, but it didn’t seem possible.

  She let the backpack slide to the floor, and the girl in the reflection moved just the same way. She stepped closer to the mirror, drawn to the horror she had become.

  Her hands and clothes were caked in blood and dirt. Her hair was tangled and filthy, but it was her face she couldn’t look away from. Dried blood covered her mouth, a dark red stain that dripped down her throat. She had bitten the man, she had tasted his blood, and the horrible truth of it covered her face. She looked like a vampire. Tears cut wide, pale tracks through the deep red.

  She turned on the water as hot as it would go and scrubbed her face in the sink. It didn’t matter if the water was contaminated or filthy. She was worse.

  She didn’t stop scrubbing her face until it was raw, then she climbed into the tub, crouching under the faucet to wash. There was no shower here, and she couldn’t bear the thought of soaking in someone else’s blood. She should be sobbing. They had left Catlyn in the tunnels. But the tears came slowly as she scraped the blood out from under her nails.

  It felt like an eternity before her hands were finally clean. The girl in the mirror looked like her again. Bruised and cut, but her.

  She dragged on clean clothes and rinsed the blood out of everything else, without real hope of it being dry when they had to leave. Finally, she grabbed the pack and headed back out to the bedroom.

  Beauford and T sat on the bed, a tray of food between them.

  “Eat up.” T smiled. “There’s plenty for all of us.”

  “Thanks.” Nola put the bag in the corner and climbed up onto the giant bed.

  “It’s good food, too.” T handed Nola a piece of bread. “I mean, not dome good, but…” She blushed.

  “It’s great.” Nola took a bite. It was sweeter than dome food, but her stomach growled greedily at the taste of it. “I haven’t had much food made outside the domes. We don’t have sugar or preservatives in our food. This is nice, just different.”

  “We won’t have anything this good when we get to Nightland,” Beauford said. “If we make it there alive.”

  “Beauford, don’t,” T said.

  “We already lost Catlyn. And we haven’t even made it to the city limits,” Beauford pushed on.

  “Please stop.” Tears welled in T’s eyes.

  “Catlyn was a wonderful woman,” he said, the usual gruffness in his voice gone, “but the last thing she would want is for our grieving for her to hurt our chances of survival.”

  “If you don’t want to go to Nightland, then what do you want to do?” T said. “This city is falling. Even if we could stay away from the Outer Guard, how long do you think we would survive?”

  “Not long enough for that baby to be born,” Beauford said.

  T wrapped her arms around her stomach.

  “I don’t see how this is helping.” Nola set her half-eaten slice of bread down on the bed, resisting the urge to wrap an arm around T.

  “Catlyn wanted us to get out of the city,” Beauford said. “I know that better than anyone. And if we’re getting out of the city, the only place any of us knows to go is Nightland.”

  “Then why are we talking about this?” T asked. “We have to go. If we die, we die, but there’s nothing to do but keep trying.”

  “Because, if I’m hurt as bad as Catlyn, I want ReVamp,” Beauford said, looking into both T’s and Nola’s eyes in turn. “I promised Catlyn I would do whatever it took to get us to Nightland. If that means becoming a Vamper to keep fighting, then I want to do it.”

  “Okay.” T nodded. “I’ll make sure you get the injection.”

  “But you can’t take it.” A tinge of fear touched Beauford’s voice.

  “No.” T shook her head. “If I die, I die.”

  Both of them turned to Nola before Beauford asked, “And if you get hurt?”

  “What?” Nola pushed herself as far back as the four-poster bed would allow.

  “If it comes down to it,” he said, reaching across the bed and gripping her hand, “do you want to go like Catlyn, or do you want to be like Raina?”

  “I-I,” Nola stammered, her mind racing so quickly she could hardly breathe. “That won’t happen. We’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.”

  “Catlyn is dead,” Beauford said. “I’ve known Catlyn my whole life. She’d been looking after me since before I could crawl.” Pain shot through his voice, and a thick wrinkle appeared between his brows. “I would have given her the shot. I would have made her into a Vamper, saying it was to keep her alive, but really it would’ve been for my own selfish benefit. Because I didn’t want to lose her. I don’t know you, we don’t know you. We’re out here with half the city wanting to eat us and the people with fancy guns wanting to catch or kill us, and the one who knows you best is a crazy Vamper with a knife fetish. So, I’m asking you once and for all, Vamper or corpse: what do you want?”

  She couldn’t move. Panic surged through her. Beauford gripped her hand, leaning across their meal, his eyes bright with held-back tears. T was crying in earnest now, wiping her tears away with her still dirty sleeve, which left filth on her cheek.

  “I have a clean shirt.” Nola wrenched her hand away from Beauford. “You can wear it and wash out yours.” She crouched down by her bag, hiding her face from him while she searched for the other shirt.

  “We need to know what you want us to do.” Beauford jumped off the bed and knelt by her side. “Nola, we need to know.”

  The use of her name, the sound of it in his voice, stopped Nola’s frantic digging.

  “We made it this far.” He pulled the bag out of her reach. “And that is amazing. But we have a lot farther to go. I know all of us will fight like hell to survive, but I almost went against Catlyn’s dying wish because I didn’t know any better. I don’t want to risk that with anyone else.”

  “I don’t know.” Nola’s voice came from a million miles away. “I don’t know what I want. I want to eat bread and sleep in a bed. I want to find T a clean shirt.”

  “Leave her alone, Beauford,” T said. “She just left her home. Give her a second to breathe.”

  “Okay.” He tossed the bag back to Nola. “But if the time comes, she’ll just have to live or die with whatever choice we make for her.” Beauford walked into the bathroom, closing the door roughly behind him.

  Silence filled the room for a moment. The only sound was Beauford turning on the taps of the bath.

  “You have to forgive him,” T said. “He’s never been great with people, and losing Catlyn is a lot for both of us.”

  Nola’s fingers finally closed around her other clean shirt. “I didn’t know you three were so close. I thought you just got grouped together for work in the domes.”

  “Thanks,” T said, taking the shirt Nola offered. “Catlyn was the pied piper of lost children. She had a strong door and a big floor in her apartment, so she would let all of us stay with her when we needed a place out of the rain or away from the riots. I don’t know how she scraped it together, but there was always something to eat. Eno
ugh to get by until we could find food on our own. She was devastated when I went down to Nightland, thought I would get myself drained by some Vamper. Took her months to even agree to meet Charles, and then when he disappeared, well, she found us work in the domes. And that kept us from starving.”

  T pulled on Nola’s shirt. It was tighter than what T had worn in the domes, hugging her pregnant belly. T’s face crumpled as she stared down at her stomach.

  “And now Catlyn’s gone.” T buried her face in her hands. She’d stopped crying. She just looked exhausted.

  Hesitantly, Nola stepped forward and wrapped her arms around T.

  “I’m so sorry,” was all she could think to whisper as T leaned into her shoulder, sagging with the weight of what lay behind and the unknown they had left to face.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The daylight faded from the crack in the curtain. Nola had been staring at the tiny sliver of light for hours. Every time she fell asleep for a few minutes, a noise would wake her, and she would lay frozen, convinced the Outer Guard had found them.

  T lay in the bed next to Nola, her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach.

  Beauford was sprawled out on the gold couch at the foot of the bed, breathing slowly and steadily as though fear were a thing he couldn’t understand.

  Nola pinched her eyes shut, knowing Nettie or Raina would be coming for them soon. They would be back on the streets, walking far at best, fighting for their lives at worst. She needed sleep. Even the few minutes she had left would be valuable. But she couldn’t manage it.

  Her mother would be in tears. Or furious and refusing to say Nola’s name ever again.

  Jeremy was probably still out looking for her, convinced she was a brainwashed captive. She wished she could have told them why she had to leave. That the beauty and safety of the domes weren’t enough to cover the lies and blood that lay beneath. But then she never would have been able to leave. They would have locked her up in one of the cells.

  She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. She shouldn’t feel guilty about Jeremy wasting his time searching for her. He had lied. He had let her be a part of murder. But her mother…

  You had to do it. You had to get out. And you saved four people doing it.

  Three, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. You only saved three.

  Finally, a faint rapping sounded on the door followed by the heavy thunk of the lock flipping over.

  “Wakey, wakey.” Raina swung open the door. “My beloved sister wants to offer you one more meal in our house before we run for our lives, so who’s hungry?”

  “We should all eat,” Beauford said, on his feet before either of the girls could climb out of the sheets. “It doesn’t matter if we’re hungry.”

  “What about you?” T asked as she pulled on her shoes. “Do you need to eat?”

  “How kind of you, worrying about feeding the vampire,” Raina said. “Don’t worry, I met a tasty little street guard already. I feel fit as a night-walking fiddle.”

  “Then let’s eat and get out of here.” Nola picked up her pack. Her back ached in protest.

  “I can carry that for you.” Beauford reached for the bag.

  “No!” Nola said. “I can carry it. I mean, I want to carry it.” Her face flushed at Beauford’s suddenly stony expression.

  “Smart girl,” Raina said. “Now eat before it gets completely dark. We can’t afford to waste time.”

  T followed Raina quickly out the door, leaving Nola and Beauford alone.

  “I really do appreciate the offer,” she said, “but I can carry it myself.”

  “I wouldn’t steal your pack from you.” Beauford examined Nola’s face. “But I guess you won’t believe that, will you? You’ve been lied to too much. If we live long enough, maybe you’ll trust somebody again.”

  He strode past Nola and out the door, leaving her head spinning. She moved as quickly as she could, grabbing the still-damp clothes she had washed and stuffing them in the top of the pack, making it heavier still, but by the time she reached the downstairs, the others had nearly finished eating.

  “Eat up.” Nettie raised a crystal glass in welcome. “I made sure the meal was special, a goodbye feast for my sister. Of course, we’ve had a few of these before, and the goodbye part never does seem to stick.”

  “Thank you.” Nola didn’t know what else to say. She slid into the empty seat left at the polished wooden table. A slice of meat and something that looked like potatoes sat on a china plate.

  “You know, it’s not like I ever try to come back here.” Raina kicked her feet up, putting her boots on the table. “It just sort of happens, and I do actually own the place, so I think you should be grateful I let you live in my house, baby sister.”

  Nola shoveled food into her mouth as Nettie’s face turned red.

  “Your house? Your house! You can’t even live aboveground!”

  “That’s what curtains are for.” Raina’s eyes sparkled as her sister’s anger grew.

  “You abandoned this house when you decided to be a Vamper!” Nettie stood, sloshing the pungent liquid from her glass. “Dammit.”

  “I didn’t decide to be a Vamper. I decided to survive,” Raina said. “I decided I wanted to survive without all the terribly strict rules that have kept you alive.”

  “You wanted to run around on the street. You got yourself sick.” Nettie pounded her glass down on the table, shattering the crystal. “Shit! You made your choices, and leaving this house forever is your consequence! This is my house.” Nettie wrapped a napkin around her bleeding palm.

  “I have no intention of taking it from you, little sister.” Raina kicked her feet off the table and stood as Nola shoved the last bite of meat into her mouth. “Just remember when I come knocking, you will answer. Or I’ll burn the place to the ground and neither of us will have it.”

  “You are cruel,” Nettie said. “You are cruel and psychotic.”

  “Half of that is reasonably true.” Raina waved the others to stand. “But I always have your interests at heart. And your best interest is never to forget you have a vampire sister in Nightland. It might just save you one of these days.”

  “I don’t need your protection,” Nettie said.

  Beauford took Nola by the elbow and dragged her to the doorway.

  T followed, hiding in Beauford’s shadow.

  “Of course not.” Raina walked over to her sister and kissed her on the forehead before Nettie could back away. “Until you do. Try not to die, Nettie. It’d be a pity for the house to be empty.”

  “How dare—” Nettie began, but Raina had already pushed past Beauford and out into the hall.

  “Don’t you dare darken my door again!” Nettie shouted after Raina, chasing Nola, Beauford, and T out into the hall. “I won’t be taking in anymore of your friends either. I’m done!”

  “That’s what you said last time.” Raina worked swiftly on the seven locks that ran along the side of the door. “And if I do show up again, you’ll open the door. Partly because it’s my house I let you exist in, but mostly because you love me, baby Nettie, and you’d never leave me out to die in the sun or burn in the rain.”

  “I will, I swear it!”

  “Until next time, sister.” Raina flung open the door and stepped into the darkening night.

  “Thank you,” T whispered as she followed Raina out onto the street.

  “Thanks,” Beauford mumbled.

  “Yes, thank you for your hospitality,” Nola echoed and moved to follow.

  “Glad to help.” Nettie’s gaze followed her sister as Raina strode down the road without glancing back. “But you had better follow Raina before she leaves you behind. Who knows how much harder it will be to get yourself killed without her help?”

  As soon as Nola was through the door, it slammed behind her. She ran down the street, chasing Raina, the pack bursting pain through her spine as it bounced with every stride.

  “Where are we going?
” Nola wheezed as soon as she caught up.

  “Nightland.” Raina led them past the guards who waited in the shadows, winking at one who wore a conspicuous white bandage on his neck.

  “I meant more immediately.”

  “To the western outskirts of the city.” Raina turned a corner and led them out of view of Bellevue Avenue. “Then we head out into the wild. There’s no point in my telling you where to go after that. You wouldn’t find Nightland anyway.”

  “And if we get separated?” Beauford asked as Raina led them down a street where torches were lashed to the broken lampposts. A withered-looking man moved down the road, lighting each post in turn as people began emerging from their houses for the night.

  “If we get separated, you’re on your own. Find a safe place to wait out the apocalypse and try not to die. I’m not stopping until I get to Nightland.”

  Nola wanted to think Raina wasn’t serious, but she knew her too well.

  The city is too dangerous for any of us to risk lingering.

  “Hey, you!” a man shouted from the side of the street. His long, matted hair framed his gaunt, gray face. “What are you doing here?”

  At the sound of his voice, other people on the street began to take notice of them.

  “Passing through,” Raina said, not slowing her stride as twelve people closed in around them.

  “We don’t like Vampers on this street.” The man stepped into the light of one of the newly lit torches. The dancing flames glinted off his bright red eyes.

  “Didn’t know this street had been taken by wolves.” Raina spoke as though the fact that they were surrounded by werewolves was only vaguely interesting.

  “Well, it has been, and we don’t just let Vampers and humans wander down our street.” The man stepped in front of Raina, blocking her path.

  “I’m not wandering.” Raina’s hand tightened around the handle of the metal box she carried. “Actually, I’m in a hurry. So get out of my way.”

  The man let out a howling laugh that echoed around the street.

  “If you don’t move, I’ll have to hurt you.” Raina smiled and stepped so close to the wolf, it looked as though she might kiss him. “It would be a pain in my ass, but I’d win. And then the Outer Guard would come and kill you all. So, move or die.”