“Tell me more about your history, Zeke,” she said. “You speak as though you’ve seen a century’s worth of life, yet you’re so young.”
“Don’t call me that.” He looked at the sky. “Perhaps I’m a vampire.”
“Vampires don’t walk in the sun, Zeke.”
Ezekiel frowned at Caitlin, then chuckled as he decided to let it go.
“According to Helena, that isn’t strictly true. Those blessed to be of Bethany-Anne’s bloodline have conquered that enemy.”
“But you’re not an Unknown, are you?” Caitlin inquired.
Ezekiel thought about this, his eyes staring up at the stars. “I don’t know what I am, to be honest. I know I’m human, and I know I’ve lived more than a century’s worth of life in just a few decades. But that doesn’t explain everything. Some things are difficult to explain.”
“Like what?” Caitlin could tell that Ezekiel was holding something back. That he wanted to tell her more but was still uncertain of her. She understood that feeling. With so many enemies in the world, it was hard to know who to trust.
“Try?” she asked.
Ezekiel looked down at his hands. “I can’t.”
“Then at least tell me where you’re from. Where were you born? Where are your family? Who was your first crush? Why are you so determined to end this all?”
“Why are you so determined?” he shot back quietly.
“You know why.”
Ezekiel lost his serious expression for a moment. “Maybe you’re my first crush.”
Caitlin scoffed. “Don’t be so vulgar.”
Ezekiel laughed. “My story is a lot to tell, but I can answer two of your questions at once. My parents died several years ago, overrun by a pack of Mad. Hounded, and my family destroyed, I was forced to run, and from then on, the adventure never stopped. I vowed to myself at that moment that I would find a way to bring light to the world, no matter what it took. I would find a safe place and build something that people could call home.”
Caitlin nodded, knowing that feeling all too well. She wondered briefly how her brother and her friends were doing at The Broken City. Whether the Weres and humans had been able to keep the peace and ensure the city became the haven she dreamed of it being. “And all of this meditation? How does that help to bring you closer to destroying the Madness once and for all? Is it all just a chance for you to find your calm and process it all?”
Ezekiel met her eyes. He wanted to trust her. Felt deep inside that he could. And yet, he was still not quite sure. “In a way,” he answered, his words hesitant. His eyebrows furrowed, his decision made. “It also gives me the chance to talk to Her. To try to understand what it is that She’s requesting.”
“Who’s ‘Her?’” Caitlin asked, wondering if Ezekiel was about to reveal that there actually was a little Madness in himself. Who sits on a rock and tries to talk to the voices in their head?
“The voice in my head. She has been trying to communicate with me for months now, and finally, I’m in a position to hear Her. She calls to me. Tells me things. Things that no one should know.” He paused. “She tells me She has the answer.”
Caitlin studied his face for any kind of tell that he was joking. That he was somehow playing tricks with her. “Zeke? Who is this woman? How did you escape while your parents perished?”
Before Ezekiel could answer, they heard rustling in the trees. A groaning sound of a Mad somewhere nearby.
“Perhaps now you’ll have the chance to see for yourself,” he mumbled to himself, quietly enough that he thought Caitlin wouldn’t hear, but loud enough that she caught the gist.
Cammie could smell them on the wind, the forest thick with the scent of the Mad.
“You’d think that this world couldn’t stink any more than it does, then the Mad go ahead and rub their stench on the friggin’ trees. You think the world will ever be clean again? Free of the stench of death and decay?”
Royland jogged to catch up with her. Glad to finally be off the ship and able to stretch his legs, he enjoyed testing his vampire speed and weaving between the trees. “Honestly? The smell isn’t all too bad. It probably doesn’t help you’ve got Were-mode switched, though.”
“Were-mode? That’s just my sense of smell. I can’t exactly turn it off.” She sighed. “You know how hard I find it to deal with not being able to transform anymore. At least let me have a couple of my Were powers that I can keep, please?”
“Hey, I wasn’t the one complaining.”
“I wasn’t complaining. I was observing.”
Royland poked his tongue out. “You were observing negatively.”
Cammie whirled around and pinched it between her two fingers, a slight flash of amber behind her eyes.
His eyes flashed red, fangs appearing from his gums. “You really want to play this game?”
“Oh, put your tiny prick away,” she laughed, letting go and turning back to the forest. “No one wants to see that.”
“That’s not what you were saying last night.”
“We didn’t have sex last night.”
Royland smirked. “Then who did I have sex with?”
Cammie’s eyes flashed again. “If it was that other damn vampire, I’ll—”
“Relax!” Royland held his hands up defensively, the smile still pinned on his face. “I’m just playing. You really think I’d cheat on someone as sexy and intelligent as you?”
Cammie considered Royland, doing her best to melt him under a hard stare. “I suppose not,” she told him with a flick of her hair.
“Exactly.”
“Because you know I’d rip your dick off.”
“Well, there’s that, too.”
They laughed.
The forest opened before them. The pair wandered through in the darkness, using the senses they’d been blessed with to follow the trail of their lost crew. Royland had left Driscall in charge of the crew on the ship, although he was sure many of them wouldn’t need much instruction. After an entire day of working on repairs, they had now fixed at least half of the hull, and the crew would be resting after having worked hard in the sun.
He’d bet that nearly all of them would be fast asleep right now, ready to rub their tired muscles in the morning. Ready to rise and begin working on hacking down the nearby trees and creating new fixes to cover the rest of the hole.
“Over here,” Cammie called, her nose to the air. She could smell something different. Something cleaner then Mad.
“Human?” Royland asked, joining her and sniffing the air.
“Smells like it.”
“Caitlin?”
“Not too sure.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s masked with the scent of Mad,” Cammie said.
“Do you think she’s in trouble?”
A screech rang out through the trees, sending a flock of crows into the air.
“Let’s go and see.”
There were only a few of them, but boy, were they tough.
The Mad they fought looked as though they were fresh out of the factory. Aside from the sores on their skin and the red flashes of their eyes, there wasn’t much to suggest that they had been Mad for long.
Caitlin had seen all different types of Mad. Some that looked so decayed and atrophied that they must have been Mad since the disease first hit the land. Others she considered newborns, those who had lost several limbs and so crawled on the ground with the fervor of alligators and snakes.
And then there were these guys. Probably fresh from the city, these Mad were fearsome. Having only recently succumbed to the Madness, they were strong and cunning. While some Mad which Caitlin had fought lumbered, these Mad leapt and ran and swung their arms—anything to try and catch a bite of their pray.
“Ezekiel, run!” She had called the moment the Mad had appeared.
Zeke didn’t have a weapon on him, and Caitlin was lax in sharing hers. Moxie was a blade fit for her hand, and the idea of being weaponless against th
ese brutes didn’t even cross her mind.
And so Ezekiel hid behind the boulder while Caitlin stood in the Mad’s path.
The first had leapt at her like a puma from the branches of a tree. Caitlin brought her sword up to meet its path and managed to get a good slice along the Mad’s shoulder before it landed and screeched at her.
The second Mad—a man who looked as though he spent a good portion of his day working out—bounded toward her. If she had remained where she stood, he would no doubt have bowled her over and squashed her into the rock.
As it was, Caitlin managed to pivot away, only receiving a small blow from his fist as the Mad tried to slow himself down and avoid a collision with the boulder himself.
Arms grabbed Caitlin from behind. She could smell the Mad’s fetid breath on her. She could feel its warmth. The sound of gnashing teeth made her blood run cold, and she quickly doubled over, throwing the Mad over the top of her and sending it onto the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, Caitlin brought Moxie above the Mad’s face and drove the blade down. It crunched as the sword broke into the skull and penetrated the grey matter beneath. The light in the Mad’s eyes died.
“One down,” she mumbled to herself. There was no time to rest as the other two Mad quickly recovered and came for her.
She only had time to dodge to the side when muscle-boy came for her once more. Only this time, as she rushed to move out of the way, her ankle caught in a small dent in the ground, and she fell.
The Mad turned to her hungrily and made to jump on top of her. Caitlin was caught, the wind knocked from her as the Mad came into sight and filled her vision. She made to swing her sword but realized that it had fallen from her grasp and was now just out of reach.
She kicked her legs out in front of her, doing anything she could think of to slow the Mad’s progress. Its weight was more than she thought. Her knees began to buckle—
A flash of light appeared from out of nowhere, and an orb made from fire hit the side of the Mad. It pushed the Mad away from Caitlin and sent him crashing into a nearby tree.
Caitlin gasped, momentarily blinded by the afterglow of the orb. She sat up and looked around for the source of the light.
She had just enough time to see Ezekiel peering around from the side of the boulder with his hand extended toward her when the first Mad screeched and slashed at her. She ducked from the attack, grabbed her sword, and sent it into the Mad’s gut, twisting the blade to inflict extra damage.
The Mad, while still in pain, continued its attack and lowered its head toward Caitlin.
With adrenaline-fueled energy, she stepped back and withdrew the blade, then sent the tip directly into the Mad’s throat, where it pierced the brain and found its way out of the back of its head.
Caitlin took deep lungfuls of air as she withdrew the blood-stained blade and let the Mad fall to the floor. She turned on the muscular Mad and felt her heart drop as he rose back to his feet, apparently undeterred by the strange light attack.
“Can’t you learn to take a hint?” she asked the Mad. “When you get knocked on your ass, just stay down. It’ll be better that way.”
If the Mad understood her words, he showed no sign. Instead, he growled, lowered his head, and began his third and final charge.
“Fine,” Caitlin mumbled. “Have it your way, then.”
She planted her feet and prepared for the final attack. She stood ready for the silver of her blade to pierce the Mad’s skin, but something blurred past her at tremendous speed and slammed into the Mad before contact occurred.
Caitlin searched for the pair, finding them both a moment later against the rock-face. She laughed with relief when she saw Royland leaning casually on the rock with one hand, while his other held the hilt of the dagger plunged into the Mad’s heart.
“Captain Royland, reporting for duty.” He chuckled, withdrawing his blade with a delicious squelch.
A moment later, Cammie came crashing through the underbrush. She emerged into the clearing and placed her hands on her knees as she fought for breath.
“I thought Weres were supposed to be fit,” Ezekiel commented, emerging from behind the boulder.
Cammie glared at him. “You try keeping up with a vampire.” She did a double-take, then looked at Caitlin. “Who’s your friend?”
Caitlin stared at Ezekiel, wondering that exact question herself. Remembering the look on his face as the orb of light shot out from nearby. Still able to see the dull red glow behind his eyes before he had ducked back behind the boulder.
Chapter Eighteen
Potato Creek State Park, Illinois
Mary-Anne wasn’t sure how to feel.
She hadn’t planned on coming back to the others at all. She had planned to keep on running until there was no more horizon and she could settle down to rest in a place where she could yield to the Madness without hurting those she loved.
But that wasn’t what had happened.
Instead, she had smelled the Madness in the air, mixed with the vampire blood of Helena Millican, and had been tempted back. She had been curious about the woman strapped to the table in the little shack but had felt cautious about getting any nearer.
At least until Caitlin and Kain had begun speaking to the boy.
Ezekiel is what he called himself, but he certainly wasn’t human. Something was inside of his blood, a strange scent she couldn’t quite place. After centuries of tuning her senses to the signs of vampires and Weres, she was certain that this boy fit into neither category—or maybe he fit into all of them.
What are you, she had thought, seeing the small flash of red in his eye as Caitlin tried to hack the ropes down and let Kain free. She had been hiding in the forest, watching from afar, exhausted from the comedown after her Mad attack, and yet curiosity kept her near.
She wondered if Kain had smelled it, too, or if he was perhaps too caught up in trying to understand the business with the Madness and the satellites. She made a note to ask him the next time the two of them had a moment alone.
Yeah, like that would ever happen.
Helena snored in her sleep.
Wrists, ankles, and head bound to the bench, Mary-Anne felt the warmth of humiliation as she tested the bonds she was bound by. The smart idea from the boy to get a second bench and construct another device to hold her still while they slept in case her own Madness overtook her again.
She had agreed willingly. That didn’t make it any less humiliating.
Mary-Anne sighed, then whispered to the air, “Oh, what have I become?”
“It gets easier,” Helena muttered, coming out of her slumber with a jolt.
“Really?” Mary-Anne’s eyes were hopeful.
Helena chuckled. “Oh, no, dear. It doesn’t get easier at all. That voice that you hear in your head? The one that takes over when the Madness comes? It only gets louder. It only gets more forceful with every episode. You wait. It won’t be long until every waking moment is a battle.”
“Are you fighting it now?” Mary-Anne asked. She stared at the planks of wood overhead, envisioning what could be worse than what she’d already experienced.
“Every second of every day,” Helena replied. “You’re lucky, though. At least you’ve got time on your hands.”
“Time?” Mary-Anne scoffed. “What use is a couple of days after I’ve been alive for nearly two centuries? A couple of days is a few seconds in relation to the rest. What time do I really have?”
Mary-Anne felt a small bubble of anger and worked to repress it. Helena laughed again, though Mary-Anne failed to see what was funny.
“You know, there’ll never be enough time on this Earth,” Helena mused, talking more to herself than Mary-Anne. “It seems only yesterday that I met my maker and began this life as a vampire. It was a second chance. I was given the gift of life, only days away from leukemia taking away everything I had ever known, and I was offered an opportunity, so I took it.
“The cancer was destroyed the minute
the nanocytes in the blood took hold. The Kurtherian nanocytes were the miracle cure to so many things. A concoction able to make super-humans. To create the Unknown and halt death. Or at least I had thought…”
Helena fell quiet. Mary-Anne strained her head to turn and see her. She stared placidly at the ceiling.
“We were given a gift,” Helena continued after a moment. “Vampirism is the greatest thing I could ever have asked for. No matter what happens when the Madness finally claims me—and I feel that that time may be sooner than anyone realizes—I was given more time than any human to do my work and get us to where we are now. The culmination of all that’s yet to come.”
“And what’s that?” Mary-Anne asked.
“A journey,” Helena replied simply, her face straightening. “A journey to parts of the world that no one has visited in a long time.”
“How will we get there?” Mary-Anne asked, already knowing the answer. The reason she had kept him around her this whole time. “The boy?”
“Don’t underestimate him,” Helena told her. “There’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. He may be young, but he’s wise beyond his years. He’s been through a lot, and he’s more doggedly determined than anyone I have ever met.” She smiled. “Even me.”
“What is it?
“Did you know that the Queen Bitch—or, the Matriarch as your companions seem to call her—always had a team by her side,” Helena asked as if she hadn’t heard Mary-Anne’s question. “Dozens of humans, Weres, and vampires fighting to help keep justice in the world.”
“Team Queen Bitch—TQB. Of course. What does that have to do with this?”
“They weren’t the only ones fighting. I suspect they had Kurtherian aid. Possibly even machines that were intelligent in their own right. I believe there are sentient beings who had been trapped or were hiding across Earth, beings who are waiting for someone with enough of an understanding of the Kurtherian race and the threat they posed to find them and help revive them to functional use.”
Chasing The Cure: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 5) Page 14
