Tess leaned forward a little. “They’re involved with demonic magic, though. They serve a specific demon, right? When we look at most magic spells and rituals and whatever, they all have some purification component.”
Kamila pursed her lips, eyes far away. “And water from different sources can be seen as more powerful or more pure than other water. Even Christians and Muslims use that idea. Hmm. This is good.”
“It feels like a big leap, but I can’t think of a better explanation. We need to consider the fact that vampires might have—let’s call it human elements to their lives, or at least some of the trappings. Religion falls under that umbrella, and so the idea of some water having more value makes sense,” I said.
We studied the map again. “The area we’re looking at is still largely rainforest, with agriculture making serious inroads. It’s possible the spring has dried up or been diverted or something. Are there sulfur deposits in the area?” Kamila looked up at the rest of us. “People associate sulfur with Hell and demons. It’s a good enough place to start looking.”
“I don’t know if there are or aren’t, but I know how to find out.” I glanced over at Zarya. “That is, if Zarya is willing to supply her translation skills. I haven’t managed to figure out anything in Portuguese yet.”
She gave me a brilliant smile. “What, you’ve been in the country for a day now and you’re not completely fluent? What good are you?” She chuckled. “Why don’t we go ahead and figure out a sleep schedule? That way, we’re all prepared for anything and no one catches us off guard.”
“Got it.” I agreed to take first watch, and Tess agreed to sit up with me, as we were both too deep in our thoughts to sleep.
We watched out the window and tried to pay close attention as we barreled down the tracks. The smell in the ancient car wasn’t overpowering, but it was getting ripe with each passing mile. Nothing kills the glamour of train travel like a chemical toilet left uncleaned, but I’ve smelled worse things before. After all, I did kill vampires on a regular basis, and their decay was far from pretty as scents went.
I couldn’t understand any of the conversations going on around me, either. As the sun descended toward the horizon, I realized that while I couldn’t understand any of the conversations, I could pick out several different languages. In my head, Brazil had always been a monolith—a giant country but monolingual, where everyone looked the same, thought the same, and spoke the same. I was already disabused of that notion, but the musical chatter made it seem even more textured than before.
I alternated between admiring the multilingual babble going on around me and wanting to crawl out of my skin. Ordinarily, I would have enjoyed the sounds of the different languages. Today, when I had to anticipate an attack at any moment, having a bunch of people speaking a language other than my own acted to sharpen my senses, like a whetstone for my awareness. I closed in just to listen. A change in scenery was a good tonic for healthy paranoia, especially in a cloistered train car rushing through the Brazilian jungle.
The sun disappeared below the horizon, and my insides clenched. The time after dark was the worst. Only the presence of civilians would keep vampires at bay now, and even that was no guarantee.
I scanned my fellow passengers. A few of them watched the gloomy jungle, their lizard brains tripped by a long dormant memory that in the dark, humans are vulnerable.
The train continued on its path, clacking over the ties in a near constant rhythm. Across from me, Tess sat up straighter. Her thoughts must have been running along the same lines as mine.
The door at the end of the train clattered for a second, and then it slid open. I looked up, along with everyone else, and my eyes locked onto the vampire with unerring ease.
The man who had been following us since we left the hotel stood there. He wasn’t all that tall, but he seemed to fill the doorway. He still wore that same bright yellow shirt, and a little trickle of blood stood out from the corner of his mouth.
He’d fed, just now. The blood on his face was fresh. It hadn’t even started to dry. That bastard had gotten onto a train and drained someone, tossing them aside like they were no more than a bag of trash.
He smirked at me. He must have known, or suspected, my thoughts. My anger flared, hot and clean. The smug prick had blood on his breath and thought he was safe, sitting in the train car with Ferin.
He stepped into the car and calmly closed the door behind him, and that’s when the reality of my world tilted again. Most of my fellow passengers stared openly. Then they looked away. I knew what that meant, even without the instruction of older Ferin who’d seen it all before. These poor souls knew what the man in the yellow shirt was, and they didn’t want to attract his attention or ire.
I couldn’t blame them. What could the average human do against a vampire?
I elbowed Zarya, who sat beside me. Tess roused Kamila. “We’ve got company,” I whispered to Zarya. “Does this guy look at all familiar to you?”
She glanced up and pretended to look out the window. “Not to me. Why, does he look familiar to you?”
I explained who this guy was. “Get ready for the kill. It’s happening.”
5
Kamila’s beautiful green eyes were wide, and her skin had gone pale, but she spoke firmly to me. “He’s not going to do anything. Not with all these people here. They want to avoid being noticed almost as much as we do.” Beads of sweat stood out at her temples. She didn’t believe her own words.
The vampire stepped slowly and deliberately down the aisle. His feet made very little sound on the linoleum, but they echoed in my head all the same. His frozen eyes sought me out, which was a mistake on his part, because if he’d understood humans, he would have seen the rage cooking off in my eyes. He held my gaze for several seconds, and then his lip curled into a sneer as he kept walking. He knew who I was. And he wanted me to know. He was counting on it.
He didn’t look all that different than he had on the street, save for his body language. Out in the terminal, he’d done his best to blend in, while working hard to avoid rare pools of sunlight. Here, he stood tall and proud; an apex predator in a field of cattle, sneering and contemptuous. He had nothing to fear, and he knew it. He was the lord and master of all he surveyed, or at least he thought he was.
Tumblers clicked in my mind, and I made the decision.
“Something tells me they don’t care about being noticed anymore,” I told Kamila after a second. It was true. This guy wanted people to notice him, see him, recognize the beast among them.
This vampire was cocky, and that gave me pause. We’d taken on dozens of vampires together. I’d taken on plenty by myself, but this guy wanted to take on four of the most powerful Ferin alive by himself. His confidence was my clue, and if I’ve learned anything about fangers, it’s that they like the odds on their side.
The vampire scanned everyone else in the car. His eyes were cold, calculating, vile. I knew his next move was either violence or discussion, but there would be no avoidance.
The vampire looked us over, haughty and bored. When he began to speak in measured tones, it was in English, even though the people at my table were the only English speakers in this car.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I need for you to leave the car. I need for you to get up from your seats and proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly, controlled way. You will walk. You will not run. You will be silent as you move, and you will not step out of line. You will proceed as though you were at church.” His voice was deep, almost hypnotic, and while he had a hint of an accent, I could understand him perfectly.
I almost laughed. These people couldn’t understand him. But much to my surprise, the human passengers slowly surged to their feet. The people in the rows closest to the doors staggered forward, moving toward the exit. It wasn’t his words that moved them, even though he seemed to need to use his voice to make it work. It was his thoughts, and his language didn’t matter.
“Mind control.” I whispered t
he words, not because I didn’t think the vampire could hear me. I knew he could. I whispered because I couldn’t bring myself to speak any louder. If there’s one thing I fucking hate, it’s a bully, and vampires were little more than parasitic bullies, at the core of their dark, cold being. How terrible would it feel to have this thing take over your mind and your body like this? I felt sympathy for the mewling herd as they moved, because nothing about their motion was normal.
They shambled like zombies in old-fashioned horror flicks. Their knees didn’t bend as they inched forward. Mothers jerked toward the doors, dragging their children behind them. Even babes in arms fell silent, compelled to obey an order they could have understood in any language.
I stared at his act of charity, then realized he might simply be taking care of his livestock. There was no kindness in the vampire. Only predatory grooming of the one thing he needed to continue his putrid existence. Living blood.
Tess put a hand on my arm. Her pretty face was troubled. “This vampire must be incredibly powerful. Something we’ve never seen before.”
I laughed, because I’m a fatalist when it comes to fighting vampires on trains. You didn’t have a choice no matter what kind of fanger he was. You fight. “If we try to run, he’ll use the innocents to bar the exits. I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re in this, whether we want to be or not.” I cracked my neck, loosening up like an athlete before a run. “Kind of looking forward to it, honestly. I don’t like him strutting like a peacock. Not on my watch.”
Despite his emptying the car, there was still considerable risk to the people around us, because I had plans that involved sending the arrogant prick through a wall or two. The silver lining of it all was that controlling the people seemed to dominate the vampire’s attention.
His eyes were still on us, but he wasn’t speaking. He wasn’t moving. He was focused entirely on keeping the humans orderly. It was a weakness, and we would exploit it.
Kamila took a breath. “The last thing we need is to draw a lot of attention to ourselves.” She glanced back at the car behind us, where people were getting annoyed by the sudden influx of riders. “Should we try to slip out with the rest of them?”
“It won’t work.” I gritted my teeth. “He’s watching us. He knows what we are. Besides, I’m pretty sure they can sniff out Ferin. Good for him.”
“Okay,” Kamila said, drawing the word out into a sigh.
I hadn’t realized just how many people were in this car until I had to wait for them all to amble shambolically into the other cars. I could barely hold myself still. Little jolts ran up and down my spine, demanding that I move or take some kind of action. But I couldn’t really do anything for these poor people, and I didn’t want to overplay my hand.
Then I snapped my fingers. The answer had come to me. “You know what, Kamila? You’re wrong.”
“How so?” she asked.
“No, seriously. Right now we need to draw attention to ourselves. A lot of attention. All the attention.”
6
I waited placidly for the innocents to finish leaving the car. While I wanted something showy—I hadn’t decided what yet, and I wasn’t feeling picky—I also wanted to minimize casualties.
I was limited. He was not.
I had to think fast on my feet here. There wasn’t any room for error. The women watched, bodies poised for action. The vampire stared, never breaking eye contact with me. I could have cut the tension between us with a knife.
The last zombie staggered into the car behind us, and the train blew its whistle, as if confirming the change of circumstance.
The sound was like a switch for the vampire. He dove at us, slower than a lot of other vamps I’d seen, but faster than any human. I was more than ready for him. I coated my hands in balls of hot blue fire and punched the mutated corpse right in his jaw, feeling a satisfying crack as his bones split under the hammerfall of my hand. He countered, the stink of burning meat offering a foul counterpoint to my own exhalation. His fist connected in a heavy blow, and I understood the fight would not last long.
Pain exploded in my sternum, but Dalmont had hit me harder. I grinned, spat out a mouthful of blood, and got to my feet. “Go on, run!” I snapped to the women.
“You’re crazy!” Tess pulled out the revolver with the silver bullets. “Just shoot him.”
The vampire leered at her. He made an odd gesture, and the gun disappeared.
“Run!” I shouted the word again. “Remember what we talked about. What Dalmont said. Don’t stop running.”
Tess’s eyes widened, and she hurried Kamila, Zarya, and Daisy into the other car.
The vampire chuckled, but he didn’t smile. If nothing else, the asshole stayed in character.
“Do you honestly think something like you can stand up to the likes of me?” he asked.
My heart beat in my chest, strong and sure but not racing. “I don’t know. I’m not the one with four knuckles permanently branded into his face.” I launched a wall of flame at him, knocking him back.
That wall of flame was tricky business. You had to be careful not to ignite anything you didn’t plan to set ablaze, and in a setting like this, control was crucial. I couldn’t hesitate, and I didn’t. I just unleashed holy hell, keeping it full blast and perfectly aimed at my enemy the whole time. It was a beautiful flame, clean and hot and direct.
He was a fast son of a bitch. He ducked under the constant stream of flame and grabbed me by the throat. For a second, I flashed back to that men’s room in Maine with Chilperic tearing my throat out, but this vampire didn’t seem to want to do that. He wanted to posture, which confirmed my opinion that all vampires were preening dicks.
“You think you have a chance against us? We’ve been here since your kind were crouching in caves, hoping a happy accident would keep you warm for the winter.” He squeezed just enough to cut off my air supply, and then he released. I was still in his custody, but he’d made his point. He was the one in control here, or so he thought. “Just lie down and accept it. You’ll serve your purpose, which is more than you deserve, quite frankly. You’re filth, not even fit to lick Malfas’s boots.”
He squeezed my neck again. Awesome, a sadist. Just what this party needs. I didn’t know why I was surprised. Weren’t all vampires sadists? The next time he released my trachea, allowing me to take in a deep breath, I blew out a long stream of flame aimed directly at his eye. It splashes on his skin, but some of it went in, just as I’d hoped.
He dropped me, clutching at his burned face. His scream was loud and shrill enough to crack the windows. I followed up by torching that ugly shirt of his.
He snarled and swiped at me with his claws, then I danced back out of the way and ducked, so all he could do was scratch my shirt. The stifling air of the train car felt oddly cold against my bare skin in the places where the fabric was torn, and it was enough to distract me.
He grabbed my arm in a vise-like grip. “You don’t need both of your arms to play your part, little swine.”
I directed the fire to my arm, as much of it as I could summon. The arm flashed bright bluish-white, like an experiment from high school chemistry class, and then he jumped back. The palms of his hands were charred, but he still seemed to be able to use them.
“Just give up,” he said. “I shall heal. You will not.” He looked over to the door my women had run through. “A light snack and I’ll be good as new. Maybe I’ll take a drink from that pretty little girl with the short dark hair, hmm? The one with the silly gun? As if I was going to let her keep something like that around.”
I stepped back and lashed out with a whip made of pure flame. It even cracked when I flicked it. He shrieked when my scourge lashed across his skin, splitting him to white bone as viscous black blood arced away in a looping spray.
“I think you’ve got enough on your hands right here and now, without worrying about her.” I flicked my whip again, and one more time for good measure.
He let out a stran
gled cry and jumped onto me, infuriated by pain and outrage beyond the point where he could tolerate the banter anymore. He punched down toward my head, but I moved it at the last second.
His fist left a dent in the floor.
I couldn’t let him knock me out; not with head trauma and not with blood loss. I had a job to do here. I needed to keep him distracted. Since the vampires weren’t allowed to kill me, I had to keep the women safe. I had to make sure this son of a bitch lost track of them in the crowd, which meant keeping his attention until the next station at least.
I could just kill him, but something told me he wouldn’t be as easy to kill as some of the smaller fries I’d been taking out lately. It was a nice idea. I just didn’t think boiling his stolen blood was going to do much but make him angry, which I didn’t need. I wanted him frustrated, cocky, even gloating, but not truly angry.
That was part of my whole plan. I ignited his hair, just for the sake of distracting him. He jumped back, patting at his head like he was swatting at mosquitoes. This meant we were adding the stink of burning hair to the already-foul aroma of this car, but I couldn’t do anything to fix it.
I jumped to my feet and sent a bolt of flame at his groin, just for sheer spite. It didn’t help. The fire got into his system, but I could feel it quenched by his own fetid fluids. A little bit of steam escaped from the eye I’d scorched, and it wept liquid down the seared skin of his cheek. It was minimal damage, but not a wasted effort.
I’d found he could endure some flame, but he still didn’t like it. His aversion gave me some ideas for the rest of the fight.
I could see one of the other cars—not the one the women had escaped to, but the other one. We’d gotten plenty of attention now from panicked onlookers. That was good. I wanted people to remember this. I wanted people who lived in fear of these creatures to see one of them die, and badly.
Forever Young - Book 3 Page 3
