Blood Run – The Complete Trilogy – First Promise, Two Riders, Last Chance

by Dougherty, Christine

  She didn’t know how to answer and found she was not yet ready to release the burden of guilt she held in her heart. She wanted to release it…but feared that doing so might jinx them. Might jinx Wereburg. She superstitiously felt that as long as she acknowledged the possibility in her mind, then the reality would not come to pass.

  Peter remained quiet, seeming to realize that her silence was not a stubborn refusal of his words.

  As the road opened up, the convoy picked up speed. Ash and Snow had to trot and then canter to keep up. The horses could maintain an easy lope for miles. They would be in Wereburg in no time. Again, Promise felt an anxious twist in her stomach, and she lifted her chin, letting the cold air wash over her, cooling her burning mind.

  Yes, they would be in Wereburg soon…but what would they find when they got there?

  Chapter 5

  Wereburg was deserted.

  At this hour, late afternoon, people should have been out, they should have been enjoying the last rays of sun and trundling supplies to the high school. But the sidewalks were empty, the surrounding stores were vacant, and the stone steps of the high school–normally containing at least a handful of residents reading or knitting or just visiting with each other–were vacant.

  A hot, hard nugget of fear burned just below Promise’s windpipe. Ash danced and whinnied loudly as her tightening knees dug into his sides. Her trembling, so minute that Peter, even right next to her, would not have seen it, came through loud and clear to Ash. He snorted, and his front feet came off the ground. Her eyes trained on the high school, Promise seemed not to even notice. Her own nerves were stretched so taut that the horse’s behavior seemed just an extension of her own tumultuous feelings.

  The convoy pulled up to the high school and sat at the curb, idling. No one emerged from the vehicles, not even Miller. The afternoon had become one collective, held breath.

  Ash whinnied again as Promise’s nervous hands tightened his rein. It was a sharp sound, more irritation than worry, and it cut across the silent front of the big brick building, echoing back emptily.

  A door to the school banged open, and Lea ran out. Tears streamed down her cheeks. For an instant, Promise thought Lea was screaming.

  She was.

  “You’re back! You’re back!” Lea yelled and ran down the stairs, stumbling and laughing.

  Promise’s heart seemed to expand and soften, melting in her chest, filling it with warmth. She jumped from Ash’s back, barely aware of her movements, and just in time, too, because Lea slammed into her at full speed. The girls tumbled on the dry winter grass on the front lawn of the school. Promise didn’t know if it was Lea’s embrace or her own expanding heart that was making it difficult for her to breathe.

  “Lea, Lea,” Promise said, squeezing her friend tighter. “I’m so glad to see you. I’m so glad.”

  “Me too, to see you,” Lea said, gulping back tears. Promise pulled back, smiling, to look at her friend. Lea’s blue eyes were swimmy, and her blonde hair lifted on a cold breeze. Already her cheeks were reddening.

  Promise sat up, pulling Lea up with her. “We have to get you inside. You’re gonna freeze,” she said, laughing. Then she sobered and gripped Lea’s hands tighter. “Is Chance…?” Unable to finish her question, she trailed off, trusting Lea to understand.

  This time, Lea squeezed Promise’s fingers. She nodded. “He’s fine. Still in Willow’s End, and Mark’s out there right now,” she said, and her features clouded. “But I think we have to say something to Mr. West. Deidre hasn’t said anything yet, and I don’t know, it makes me nervous. Like she’s planning something.”

  Promise nodded and became suddenly aware of the many voices around them. More people had come from the school, and the soldiers and lab people had exited the vehicles. They milled about, and Promise was reminded of high school functions–dances, plays, band concerts–where large crowds of neighbors gathered and visited companionably. But this crowd had a habit of checking the sun every few minutes and glancing warily behind them no matter where they stood. They looked paranoid, and a low current of fear seemed to undercut everything they did.

  Welcome home, Promise thought, and the thought had a hard, cynical quality that the pre-plague Promise–an innocent girl known as Destiny–would never have understood.

  A hand appeared before her and another before Lea.

  Peter pulled them both up.

  “Peter!” Lea said and gave him an impulsive kiss on the cheek, then dropped her head shyly, smiling.

  “How are you, Lea? How’s Mark?” Peter asked.

  She blushed, and a quick smile quirked her lips. “He’s good, he’s…” she glanced carefully around and lowered her voice. “He’s at Willow’s End. We’ve been more or less staying in a safe house out there and keeping Chance company during the day.” She shrugged. “There was a meeting today about supplies. That’s why I’m here.”

  Promise nodded and watched as people began to filter into the building. A general meeting explained why Wereburg had looked deserted when they rode up. Her eyes snagged on Lu and Miller standing twenty yards away with Mr. West. His eyes went from them to the case of vials Miller had placed in his hands. He shook his head, and his features tightened. They must be telling him about the base and the death of Dr. Edwards.

  Promise hadn’t realized it before, but now she knew that Mr. West had known Dr. Edwards, had worked with him at some point. Then a thought occurred to her: Mr. West was probably a doctor, too. Mr. West’s eyes found hers, and he nodded and smiled, as though confirming her thought. He raised the case and shook it lightly in her direction, congratulating her, thanking her, and she was plunged into guilt.

  Anxiety tightened her nerves. “I’m going to Willow’s End.” She turned toward Ash and put her foot in a stirrup.

  Lea’s face flew open in genuine shock. “Promise, you can’t! Sunset is…it’s less than an hour away!”

  “I don’t care. Ash can get me there and then–”

  Peter put his hand over hers. “He’s been running all day, Promise, look at him.” Her eyes slid over the big horse. Sweat gleamed on every crease, and his fur was matted and dirty. “Plus, you’ll never make it to your old house where Chance is and still make it back to the safe house before the sun sets,” he said. She looked up, and her eyes held an unvoiced protest. “I’ll go,” he said, and she began to shake her head. “Yes. I can be…I can be out at night. I’ll be safe. Safer than anyone else would be.”

  “Peter, I can’t let you. Snow is just as tired as Ash, and you shouldn’t be out after dark. You still need to sleep,” she said. “You don’t want to…to get worse again.”

  “Snow is strong, and anyway, I won’t have to go as fast as you would. I’ll check on Chance and then find Mark at the safe house, and I’ll sleep there tonight. In the meantime, I think you should talk to Mr. West…explain everything.”

  “You mean about the lab? What happened there?”

  “Yes, but about Chance, too. I think he should know because he’s the one who’s going to help you…we know we can’t just inject Chance with that stuff, right?”

  Before the vampires had attacked the base, Dr. Edwards had explained that injecting someone like Peter with the cure might actually make him worse, might make him fully a vampire. How would it affect a being seemingly fully changed? But was Chance fully a vampire? Were any of them?

  “Promise, please stay,” Lea said. “Chance is fine. I saw him today, we–Mark and I–fed him every day you were gone.” She pushed up the sleeve of her shirt and lifted a bandage, revealing the thin slash marks on her forearm. Five were starting to heal, but one was fresh and caked at the edges with a thin smear of dried blood.

  Promise’s face fell. Her hand went to Lea’s arm, hovering over the cuts. “Oh, Lea, oh my gosh…I’m so…I’m so sorry. I knew what you were going to do, but I didn’t…I didn’t think about it, didn’t picture it.” She looked up and tears sat at her bottom lids. “I can’t thank you enough;
there’s no way to thank you.”

  Lea shook her head, smiling. “Just stay here tonight and be safe. Tell me everything about your adventure. Keep me company.”

  Promise nodded slowly, still reluctant. “Okay. I’ll stay, and we’ll go together tomorrow morning…first thing.”

  “Yes, of course,” Lea said and hugged Promise. “Mark and Lady are going to be so happy to see you. I think Lady, especially, has been pining for Ash. She’s not the same dog with him gone.” She stood back and looked from Peter to Promise and smiled. “I’ll go find Mr. West and tell him we need to talk to him. Bye, Peter, see you tomorrow. Be careful, okay?”

  “Yes. I will. See you tomorrow, Lea,” Peter said. He and Promise watched as Lea ran up the steps and disappeared into the school.

  Promise turned to Peter. “You’ll be careful? And not ride Snow too hard?”

  “Yes to both things,” he said. “You have to go inside, Promise. The sun is setting.”

  Promise looked around in surprise. Everyone else had gone in. A gust of cold wind hit her face like a slap, and she blinked away tears. She stood on tiptoe to hug Peter and then ran to grab Ash’s rein.

  From the top of the steps, she turned and looked at Peter, and her eyes had become shadowed. “See you tomorrow,” she said, and her words were picked up by another strong gust of wind and tumbled away. She watched as he mounted Snow. The horse’s white coat glowed, picking up the last hints and glints of the setting sun. “You look like a prince!” she called, suddenly buoyant, and Peter turned Snow in a circle, smiling. He raised a hand, and then Snow turned again and they were off.

  Promise watched until she could no longer see Snow in the gloom. Then she turned and walked Ash into the school. Her optimism had returned, and with it came her desire to rush forward with the plan to cure her brother. Everything was going to work out.

  It was time to talk to Mr. West.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Absolutely not,” Mr. West said.

  Promise sat down abruptly, feeling almost as though the wind had been knocked out of her. In a way, it had. She looked helplessly around to the other faces in the shadowy classroom: Lea, who looked equally shocked; Miller, who maintained her neutral expression; Evans, who looked angry as usual; Lu, looking slightly shame-faced; and a little further away but still within the circle of the Coleman’s glow–a smirking and self-satisfied looking Deidre.

  “Mr. West, I don’t think you understand what I’m saying,” Promise said. “It’s why I…why I went to the base…why I went through everything that…that I…” She stumbled over her words, dazed with incomprehension.

  Mr. West’s eyes were calm and sympathetic. “I do understand that, Promise. I know how hard it was for you. But I’ve talked to Lu, and what happened at the base–being overrun like that–was almost certainly from the exact thing you’re proposing. What you’ve already done, actually. You put yourself and others in jeopardy.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Deidre said, and though she was obviously trying to adopt Mr. West’s calm, slightly regretful tone, her eager dislike of Promise still came through loud and clear. At least to Promise, it did.

  “We didn’t put Wereburg in jeopardy!” Lea protested, her voice breaking. “We were way out in Willow’s End!” She was not a confrontational girl, and Promise was surprised she’d spoken up.

  “Wereburg was not directly in danger, no, and I appreciate that,” Mr. West said to Lea and then faced Promise again. “But we need Mark, we need Lea, and we need you, Promise. You’re all three extremely important to us.”

  Promise dropped her eyes to her hands clasped in her lap, but not before she saw Deidre shift and cross her arms over her chest, her face pulling down in disgust.

  “The boys here look up to Mark. When they were playing that stupid game, running between the safe houses at night…it was Mark that put a stop to it. It was Mark they listened to. If Lea weren’t here, who would the little ones have to flock around? She’s so patient with them, so kind.” He reached forward and took Promise’s hands from her lap. “And you’re our eyes, Promise, and our adventurer. Who else canvasses like you do? Who else has the bravery to ride that horse out into the woods?” He squeezed her fingers. “The three of you are at the very heart and soul of Wereburg. Don’t you realize that?”

  Across the room, Deidre hissed out a frustrated ‘psht’ sound, and Evans shot her a look of pure, cold derision.

  Mr. West continued on, seeming not to notice either Deidre or Evans. He dropped Promise’s hands and sat back, talking to the group at large, dismissing any more discussion on Chance.

  “We can ask the remaining lab people if Lu’s theory is right; if anyone would know, they would. I don’t think Edwards could have captured a vampire on his own,” Mr. West said.

  Lu shrugged and shook his head. “Anyone could have been helping him, though. The soldiers stationed there would actually be my first guess. I can’t picture any of the lab people catching vampires.”

  Mr. West raised his eyebrows. “Well, it’s not without precedent, is it?”

  “No, I guess you’re right,” Lu said and shrugged, grinning. His eyes went to Promise and Lea. “I guess if these guys did it, then anyone could have–”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Promise said, and her voice was hard. Harder than anyone in the room had ever heard it. This is a different girl sitting here, the new voice said, and not to be discounted. “It wasn’t like trapping a rabbit,” she said and stood. Her face was above the Coleman’s strongest light, her features darkly shadowed. “I’m sorry, Mr. West, but I’m keeping Chance safe right where he is. Keep everyone else away if you have to, that’s fine. Tell them all to stay the hell out of Willow’s End.” Her voice shook with anger. “But when you get the cure figured out, you send notice, and I’ll come back for it. I’ll give it to him myself. Without him…without Chance…there’s nothing for me here. Or anywhere.”

  She turned abruptly and went to the edge of the room where she’d set up a sleeping bag earlier. Behind her, the stunned silence was like a cold wave crashing over and over across her tensed shoulders. She lay down on her bag and faced the wall. She didn’t think she’d sleep tonight, but tomorrow night–in the safe house, close to Chance–she would catch up on her rest. She sighed, trying to relax, and a feeling of loneliness made her heart ache.

  Behind her the others’ voices resumed, murmuring quietly, and her loneliness grew. She missed her parents and her old life. She missed the consistency, the safety net her family had provided. She missed Chance. Her throat tightened with tears, but she wouldn’t cry where everyone could hear her. She’d wait until tomorrow, until she was by herself, then she’d let it all out.

  A warm hand descended lightly onto her shoulder.

  “Promise?” Lea’s voice, whispering. “Are you asleep?”

  Promise rolled over. Lea was kneeling next to her, smiling. “I’m going with you tomorrow. Evans is, too. He told Mr. West that he’d watch out for us,” Lea said.

  “Is he mad? Mr. West?” Promise asked, sitting up. Both girls kept their voices low. Big shadows thrown by the Coleman leaped and stuttered against the walls as the others began to prepare themselves for bed.

  “I wouldn’t say he’s mad,” Lea said. “Frustrated? That might be a better word. Of course, he’s distracted by the things he needs to get done, and I think that’s helping. He already has some ideas on what needs to be set up, and he thinks that with the lab people helping, that it won’t be long before they get some things figured out. Efficacy and…something, something…I didn’t catch it all. It was starting to put me to sleep,” Lea said, and a hint of a giggle ran trillingly through her voice.

  Promise smiled. “I really missed you,” she said and squeezed Lea in a one-armed hug.

  “I wanted you to tell me everything that happened out there, but,” Lea said and yawned, “I’m so tired, and you must be, too! Tell me tomorrow?”

  Promise nodded and pull
ed Lea’s sleeping bag closer to hers. They both lay down, face to face. This is what I missed out on, Promise thought, not having a sister. She smiled. “You’ll have to tell me how things are going between you and Mark,” she said, and even in the dark, she could tell that Lea was blushing. Although Lea, Mark and Promise were all friends and had been since coming to the safety of the high school, it was only when they were conspiring to capture Chance that Mark and Lea had become closer. Much closer.

  “If you’ll tell me what’s going on between you and Peter,” Lea said.

  Promise sighed and shook her head. “I wish I knew,” she said. “But it’s weird and complicated. Not what I imagined, you know, back when I used to think about having a boyfriend.”

  “What? You never pictured a half-man, half-vampire boyfriend?” Lea said and giggled again, surprising Promise into a laugh.

  “Lea, you’re awful!” Promise said and laughed harder, covering her mouth to muffle the sound.

  “Not me,” Lea said, putting a hand to her chest. “I’m not awful…but I know someone who is.”

  “Prom queen, you mean?” Promise said, sobering, and Lea nodded.

  “That’s the one. Did you see how mad she was getting when Mr. West was saying all those nice things about you…about us? I thought she was going to scream!” Lea said.

  “Yeah, she was mad. She just wants all the attention,” Promise said.

  “Well, let’s not give her any more of it then, all right?” Lea said, and then she blinked, yawning.

  “Go to sleep,” Promise said. “We’ll head out first thing.”

  Lea nodded, and her eyes slipped closed. Promise watched Lea’s face as the girl relaxed into sleep. She hoped she’d be able to pass into sleep as easily and thought she probably would. It felt safe to be back in Wereburg, in the school and atmosphere she’d become accustomed to over the last year. Safe and known. Safe. The thought began to carry her down, and even as she stared at Lea, her eyes began to slip closed. Safe and known. Safe. Deep in her mind, a small flag began to wave…a blood red flag. Her head nodded sharply, and she snapped awake.