“Well, that was exciting,” Cammie commented after turning back into her human self.
A gasp came from the stairs and they turned to see a small boy no older than seven staring at her with wide eyes. He didn’t look at the blood or the dead bodies; he was just staring at her nudity.
Cammie would have wanted to laugh if it weren’t so sad. She shared a look with Royland, one that confirmed he was also wondering what to do about this kid, and then she gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of her head.
Whatever they did next, killing a child would never be considered.
She hoped he hadn’t been thinking it, but she had to be sure. While she dressed, Royland approached the boy with his hands out to show he meant no harm, as if that was possible with all the blood on him.
“Are these people your family, boy?” he asked.
The boy finally snapped to attention, though maybe it was because Cammie had her clothes on, and he looked about the room. Tears welled in his eyes, but he shook his head.
“Do you have a family?” Royland asked, now kneeling in front of the kid to block his view of the carnage.
The boy considered this question as if it were difficult, then shook his head again.
Cammie approached slowly and put a hand on Royland’s shoulder. “Would you like to come with us? We can protect you.”
At this, the boy bit his lip and nodded.
“Come on,” Royland offered, holding out his hand. “We won’t bite, not you anyway. Only anyone who ever thinks about hurting you.”
The boy took the hand, looking at him with total confusion. “I…I don’t think that’s funny.”
Cammie burst into laughter. “The kid’s right, dear. Too soon for jokes.”
Royland looked annoyed, but he put on a smile. “So the kid talks.”
The boy nodded. “I know what you are, and who you are.”
“And do you know who you are?”
“Kristof,” the boy said. “My parents are on the other side of the ocean. I think. If they’re...” His eyes teared up again, but he held it back. “If they’re alive.”
“You’re a strong boy,” Cammie told him, taking his shoulder from the other side and helping him walk down the steps.
As they exited the house with him, she saw the look in Royland’s eyes and knew he was thinking it too. Now they had more reason to sail than just stopping other pirates. They needed to cross the ocean, to go to Europe.
They would wait for Valerie if they could, but this boy would not remain separated from his parents.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Toro Inner City
Moonlight glinted off the sharp edges of the concertina wire at the top of the wooden planks that kept the crazies of the slums out of the compound of the inner city. Valerie wondered how they would get in without drawing attention.
They made their way along the wall, keeping enough distance that they were able to duck away when they spotted the guard tower nearby.
“Who are these people that they need guards and all this to protect themselves?” Valerie asked.
“Or is it that the people we just pissed off are so dangerous?” Martha wondered quietly, with a glance at Rand. “When the council paid its visit to the Prince, they were hardly guarded at all.
“It wasn’t so bad last time I was here,” Rand whispered, daring to look around the corner and up at the guard tower. “The guy’s even armed. Something happened here.”
“You’re damn right it did,” a voice said from behind them and Valerie cursed herself for not keeping her guard up. When she turned, she noticed that Robin was already facing that direction, hand on her knife. She must’ve smelled the scent.
With a sniff Valerie confirmed he was just a normal man. When he stepped into the moonlight of the street between them, hidden from the guard tower by the building they were pressed up against, she saw it was the man she had rescued.
“You don’t owe us anything.” She waved him off. “Go on, before you give us away.”
He bowed his head, but didn’t move. “The thing that happened here…it was your kind.”
“What?”
“Vampires,” he replied, eyes glinting. “That’s what you are, right? Well, so were they, though less powerful. We fought them off. When I say “we” I mean the guys and gals you went after back there, mostly.”
“So why were they attacking you?” Rand asked, leaning forward now.
“I was telling them to prepare, trying to rally them. We fought off the last attack, but I saw them. I saw the vampires, not long ago. A couple walking through the streets, I’d say on a scouting mission, to see what’s what before launching another attack.”
Robin sneered. “So they tell you you’re full of it, but when you insist, they string you up and play piñata?”
“Something like that.” His eyes moved to Rand, then paused. “You ain’t dead.”
“Do I know you?” Rand asked.
“Knew me, kinda. You and my sister.”
“Brody?” Rand blushed, then looked around as if he would spot the girl somewhere. “I don’t suppose…”
“She ain’t been in these parts for some time now,” Brody spat, expression darkening. “Not since they took you away and she retaliated for it.”
Rand cursed under his breath. “Where? Who?”
Brody pointed at the guard tower. “Top of the top, I hear, but who knows.”
“Slave?” Robin asked, and when he nodded, she added, “Looks like we have more of a shared interest than we thought.”
Rand just stared at Brody, unable to say another word.
Finally Valerie interrupted the silence. “There isn’t a single slave in there we won’t set free.” She could tell by the look in Rand’s eyes that it wasn’t only about that, and she got it. Who knows what had happened to her in there. Had they beat her, or worse? Was she still alive? Such questions had to be eating him alive right now, but…
To her surprise, Robin put a hand on Rand’s shoulder. She leaned in and whispered, “We’ll save her, I promise.”
It wasn’t that it was uncharacteristic of Robin; she was a caring soul, which was part of what Valerie had found so attractive about her. And she was strong. It was just that in the time leading up to this moment, Robin had seemed so out of it, so distracted and emotional.
Perhaps it was someone else’s grief that caused her to pull herself together, but now she stood a little taller, and when she looked at Valerie, there was even a hint of excitement behind those eyes.
“Mind if we stop stalling and get on with it?” Robin asked.
Valerie’s eyes went wide, but she nodded and said, “By all means. I could take out the guard, find a way to—”
“No need,” Brody said. “Since I snuck out of there, I can sneak you all in.”
“And risk your own life?” Rand shook his head. “You can’t do that.”
“Way I see it is you’re about to rescue my sister, maybe take down this whole corrupt city. I aim to help.”
“The man knows a way, let him help,” Valerie argued. When Rand said no more on the matter, she turned to Brody and smiled. “Welcome to the team.”
“Thanks for saving me back there,” he replied. “I didn’t know where else to go, and I thought that since they’d fended off the attack last time, they could help if I was right.”
“Must’ve been a group of Forsaken that attacked.” Valerie glanced at Robin. “This might end up being more than just taking down the city.”
She nodded. “If my parents are around, killing local Forsaken won’t only be fun, it could be necessary for their safety.”
“You don’t think they’d want to come back with you?”
Robin frowned and glanced around. “Maybe that’s a conversation for another time?”
The tips of Valerie’s fingers went numb and her mouth went dry. Was it possible that Robin might not plan on coming back with her? It hadn’t even crossed her mind, though she had noticed that s
ince their little make-out session at Slaver’s Peak Robin had seemed to be pulling further and further away. At the time Valerie had thought it just meant she was nervous about her parents’ safety. She hadn’t even considered that it could be something like this, that she might be pulling away because she knew this mission would mean the end of whatever they had going on.
She realized everyone was staring at her and licked her lips to try to get the saliva going again, then nodded.
“Lead the way, Birdy,” she directed.
“It’s Brody,” the guy corrected her with a shrug, “but either way works.”
“Sorry.” She glanced at Robin, who looked away. “Let’s just…get on with it.”
Brody sensed that something was up, but after a moment of everyone staring at him he forced a smile. “Your tour begins this way.”
He led them away from the guard tower, twisting past buildings to ensure they stayed out of its line of sight, and then started back toward the gate. However, halfway there he paused and smiled, then led them into an old building. It was fairly empty, but had counters and seats along with an old digital board that had been smashed long ago.
“Subway?” Valerie asked, thinking back to the odd system they had developed in New York.
“This was never finished,” he replied, motioning to the back room. “Or this part of it, rather. There was a subway in the old days and some of it has been put back into use with a manual push system. But this part? It looks like they were expanding the lines when the collapse happened. Naturally it never was finished and people forgot about it, or most people, anyway.”
“If this is here, why haven’t the slaves all made a break for it?” Martha asked.
“To face the crazies or slum dwellers?” Rand asked with a scoff. “Lady, half those assholes would sell their own moms if it got them an extra meal.”
“That and the danger of the crazies, or worse, creatures of the night?” Brody shook his head. “Not smart. But we didn’t even know of the damn vampires—no offense—until they attacked not more than eight months ago. It was like they were staying hidden, trying to keep their secret all this time, and now they just don’t care if anyone knows they’re out there.”
“I still don’t see how you lot fought off Forsaken,” Robin said doubtfully. “No offense,” she added with a hint of a smile.
He chuckled, moving aside a section of the wall that led into a back room. “The people of the slums rose up, but many of them died. People from the inner parts of the city came out with guns blazing, not caring who they hit. Another reason for the fence; the slum dwellers haven’t forgiven them for that yet.”
“Still… Vampires?”
Brody thought about it a moment, then squinted at Valerie. “To be fair, they were nothing like you. Well, maybe one or two were, here and there. The rest had this more ravenous, almost beast-like feel.”
“Ah…” Valerie shared a knowing look with Robin and then explained to Brody, “Nosferatu. They’re a near-mindless version of us. Like if you tried to make a cake and used too much salt, or like the whole thing was just a pile of salt.”
Robin laughed at that, and it hurt. That she might not hear that laugh much longer was a thought Valerie couldn’t bear, so she returned to the task at hand.
Ahead of them, Brody was leaning over a hole in the ground that he had just revealed.
“We found out about the subway from some old blueprints but couldn’t access the main entry point because of a collapse over here. We were able to dig in, though.” He started to lower himself down. “This’ll get us in there.”
“Aren’t we lucky we saved you then?” Martha folded her arms and grinned.
“Or maybe it’s the other way around,” he replied, “since I’d be dead otherwise, and those Nosferatu, as you called them, would likely attack without anyone ready to defend.”
Valerie waited while the others entered the tunnel, then followed right behind Robin. She wanted to reach out and take her hand, kiss her, do something to ensure she wasn’t pulling away, but gritted her teeth and held herself back.
This wasn’t about her, not right now. It was about justice, and possibly defending the city against an attack from Nosferatu.
CHAPTER NINE
New York
By the time Sandra and Jackson had found the entrance to the sewers, the noise of people bustling about in the square had died down. She didn’t have any idea how late it was, and was starting to think they should just go back to his place and wait there to quiz the girl on her whereabouts when they heard a scream from below.
“I think we’re on the right track,” Sandra grunted as she lowered herself, reaching out a hand so he could help her the rest of the way.
Just from climbing in there, she was winded. Light filtered in from above in spots where stairs led up, but mostly it was damn dark down here. From what she could see there were a series of metal walkways, just like Valerie had said. The stench wasn’t quite as bad as she had been told, at least. Sandra figured that might have had to do with their advanced sense of smell. For once she was glad she wasn’t a modified human.
“Hello?” she shouted. “Is anyone down here?”
Sobs sounded in response, then the voice shouted again, “Help!”
“Come on,” Jackson yelled, running.
Sandra did her best to keep up but hadn’t gone far before she needed to rest. “Dammit!”
This wasn’t happening. She was not going to get lost in the sewers because she couldn’t keep up, so she pushed on.
At a turn, she nearly tripped and was about to curse Jackson’s name when he reappeared and grabbed her.
“DAMMIT!” she shouted again, but this time because he had scared her half to death. “Don’t you leave me.”
He nodded, supporting her as they made their way briskly along the walkways to find the source of the voice.
“Loraine?” he shouted, and a curse followed.
“Leave me alone,” Loraine’s voice came from the darkness, followed by someone else shouting that they needed help.
“I don’t care what drama you’re dealing with,” another voice said. “Lydia needs our help!”
Finally they saw them, down some metal steps on the edge of a rocky area, almost a cave. One of the girls was on the ground, leg caught in a bear trap. It was bleeding pretty badly, and the girl was unconscious in her friend’s arms.
Loraine stood next to them glaring at Jackson and Sandra.
“You followed me?” she demanded.
“We figured it out,” Sandra cut in before Jackson had the chance. “What the hell happened?”
“Pretty obvious, lady!” the friend on the ground stated. “Can you get her out?”
“Not likely,” came another voice, though it didn’t make sense to Sandra how he would be there. She turned to find Diego standing behind them, scowling. He brushed past, darted over to the girl, knelt next to her, and said, “One sec.”
Gritting his teeth, he pulled the bear trap apart and shouted for them to pull the girl’s leg free.
He took off his outer shirt and wrapped the leg in it, then picked up the girl and said, “Follow me,” to the others.
“We… We’re not leaving,” the friend protested.
Diego just gave her a look, and she nodded and started following him. Loraine was a mixture of furious and relieved, and after a moment she trailed after them too.
“Where’re you taking her?” Jackson asked as Diego passed.
“Enforcer HQ to get looked at.”
Jackson nodded.
“When I get back, you two can explain what you’re doing sneaking around behind my back.”
Sandra’s mouth dropped. “Excuse me?”
He just kept walking.
“All I did was help find Loraine, Diego,” Sandra protested. “Come on.”
They all made their way out of the sewers, but now Sandra was too frustrated to think about almost falling or really care about the stench. She
kept asking how Diego could lack trust in her, but he refused to talk about it until they had gotten the girl to safety.
“Diego, just listen to me,” she demanded as they exited the sewers. With her man’s hands full Jackson had to help her again, and Diego didn’t fail to notice.
“The wound looks bad,” he replied. “I have to get her taken care of immediately.”
“Arghhh!” she shouted as he took off into the night.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful—” Loraine started, but Sandra turned on her, releasing the frustration incited by Diego.
“You! What the hell do you think you were doing crawling around down there? You’re lucky you weren’t all killed!”
“I…I…”
“You were being stupid, was what you were doing,” Sandra finished for her. “And let’s get something straight. You couldn’t be turned if you wanted to. The chances of dying are just as high as they were down there in that cave. Higher, probably. It’s not going to happen, so get it out of your heads right now.”
“That’s not what we’re being told,” Loraine countered, and a glance at the friend showed she agreed. “There’s a vampire here from up north, somewhere past the Great Lakes, where they’re giving the gift to true believers. He says we can go with him when we get enough recruits. We’ll be vampires, just like Valerie.”
There was too much for Sandra to grasp in those words, so she sat there for a moment trying to understand.
“Wait. Toro?” she finally asked.
“That’s…” Loraine shared a surprised look with her friend. “Yeah, but how did you know about it?”
“Holy shitsticks.” Sandra lifted her arms above her head, running her fingers through her hair and taking a big breath. “Let me make something clear here. Toro is the city Valerie went to attack. It’s not a city full of good guys or good vampires, for that matter. I can tell you what I’ve seen myself, and that was back in France when a couple of very bad, very powerful vampires tried to make more. Some lived, but the females didn’t. They all died. Most of the males turned into mindless zombie vampires known as Nosferatu. Do you understand? Whatever this person promised you, it’s all lies.”
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