The City Beneath

by Melody Johnson

  The streetlights couldn’t penetrate into the center of the alley. Blinding darkness steadily closed in around me, so the sharp staccato of gunfire and the cutting pitch of the officer’s shrieks from behind were my only sense of direction. Broken glass, soda cans, and bottle caps littered the asphalt. I tried to avoid anything sharp, but I was sweating and shaking and nauseous. The end of the alley was only a few hundred feet away, so I focused on my goal and forged forward over the debris.

  I wondered if more officers would respond to the call to help the fallen . . . to help me, and I wondered how long Kaden would continue the bloodbath. Until sunrise? My hand crunched over something jagged, and my weight pressed it deep into my palm. I couldn’t see the debris, whether it was glass or metal or stone, but no matter the material, I felt the tacky slide of blood slip between my fingers. I felt its pulsing, unrelenting, bone-ache, and it didn’t matter what had caused it so much as I couldn’t even see clearly enough to treat it.

  I finally crawled out of the darkness on the other side of the alley. Using the side of the building as leverage, I clawed to my feet. The ground and building and sky all wobbled in and out of focus. The streetlights alternately faded and brightened as I attempted to keep my footing. I waited a moment, hoping my balance would steady and my awareness would sharpen, but I’d lost too much blood. My vision was darkening, not improving. My life was leaking away. I’d been here before—maybe not in this exact circumstance and certainly never with vampires—but I’d taken a bullet for Harroway and clung on to life long enough to survive. I could survive again. Gritting my teeth against the pain and dizziness, I pushed away from the building and stepped out of the alley.

  The sky swept under me before I could take a second step. My foot never found the ground, and the night was suddenly still and quiet and calm. The building circled overhead and everything blurred into the dark night sky; I couldn’t see or move or think beyond the facts that I was going to die in this disgusting alley, Kaden was likely still tearing through the line of officers, and Dominic, damn him, might have been right.

  “DiRocco!”

  I squinted against the glow of streetlights shining outside the alley. It took a moment, but my eyes adjusted. I groaned at the sight. Walker was jogging toward me, and I was still slumped against the brick siding where I’d passed out. He stopped at the alley, stepped into the darkness with me, and knelt by my side. The silhouette of his spiral curls and broad shoulders were haloed by the light behind him.

  “Jesus Christ,” Walker spat.

  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I croaked. “Worse than lobby conversation.”

  He looked over his shoulder for a moment before facing me again. “There’s a swarm out there, like bloodsucking, murdering locusts. Killing humans. Killing each other. I should’ve known you’d be in the thick of it. You probably caused it.”

  “Did not,” I grunted. The buildings and ground and Walker were all spinning and swirling. Keeping my eyes open was nauseating. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Stay with me, DiRocco,” Walker urged, sounding a little frantic.

  I forced my eyes open and tensed to stand, but my arms weren’t working properly. I couldn’t leverage to my feet. People were still screaming and shouting and shrieking on the other side of the alley, and I couldn’t even stand.

  “How did you find me?”

  “No one was at your brother’s apartment, and when you didn’t answer my calls, I assumed the worst.” Walker shook his head at me. “I assumed right.”

  Gunshots fired, closer than the others, and someone let out a high, long, chilling shriek. The scream cut off abruptly and more shots fired.

  “Get me out of here, Walker?” I squeaked.

  “As if you even need to ask, darlin’.”

  He stood, leaned over me, and scooped me up from under my armpits. I doubted my legs could hold my weight, and Walker must have doubted it, too, because he gathered me to his chest, his arms tight around my waist. My body felt boneless and weak and useless. The streetlights seemed starry as they swirled and flashed across my vision, and my head lolled to the side, resting heavily on Walker’s right shoulder.

  “Shit!” He clamped his palm firmly over my neck.

  I winced. “How bad is it? I can’t really feel it anymore.”

  “Bad,” he said tightly.

  “Did you bring sushi?” I asked, trying to lighten the air between us.

  He didn’t respond.

  “I’m not having a good week. Sushi would’ve been nice.”

  Walker sighed deeply. “Your body still needed to regenerate from last night. You need stitches and you need them now before you completely bleed out.”

  “But I can lose more blood than most and still live, right?” I asked doubtfully. “Because I’m a night blood?”

  “Sure,” Walker said. “But nearly all your blood is on the pavement. You may not need as much to survive as most people, but you still need some.”

  I felt my feet drag as Walker jogged us down the sidewalk. His arms felt very secure around me, creating the illusion of warmth and safety, and my dimming mind melted deep into the feeling.

  “DiRocco?”

  I could hear his voice, but the reality of us running as open prey on the street was far away. My world honed down to the feeling of his steady hand around my waist, his hard shoulder against my cheek, and fresh mint.

  “I’ll make you crawl home if it means you won’t give up, damn it.”

  His hand tightened on my neck, and I winced from the harsh pressure. The pain brought me back slightly.

  “Ouch,” I slurred.

  “You’ve got to stay with me, DiRocco,” Walker whispered against my ear. “The hospital’s too far, but it’s only a few more blocks to your apartment. We’ll be safe there until sunrise. Vampires can’t enter uninvited.”

  “What does that mean?” I murmured.

  “Vampires can’t physically enter a home without permission. They must be invited by a person within or by the home owner.” Walker snorted. “They might seem invincible, and they all might think they’re immortal, but silver-plated bullets, wooden stakes, and decapitation all work just fine. Nothing’s immortal. They’re simply long-lived and hard to kill. And none of them, not one, can enter your home without permission.”

  I swallowed, feeling nauseous. “Does it count if they force you to give permission?”

  Walker paused. “Did you invite one of them into your apartment already?”

  “Yes,” I admitted. “But I have new, fortified locks on the windows.”

  He was quiet for a long moment.

  “I didn’t want to invite him,” I snapped, feeling guilty and angry about feeling that way. I’d been attacked, for heaven’s sake. “Dominic was controlling my mind, and there was nothing I could do about it.”

  I expected shock or worry or anger, but instead, his reaction seemed thoughtful—calculating, even. “Are the locks silver?”

  I blinked. “No. I don’t think so. My landlord installed them, and I doubt he sprang for silver locks.”

  “Does Dominic want to turn you?”

  I chuckled. “They all want to turn me. If my choices are between my apartment and the hospital, I choose the hospital.”

  “All?” he asked doubtfully.

  “Dominic and Kaden.”

  “Ah,” he said. “That explains the vampire-on-vampire fighting. Normally, if a Master targets a specific night blood, other interested vampires concede because only a Master can transform the night blood.”

  “I’m not the reason they’re fighting,” I protested. “I believe Dominic. His powers are waning, and Kaden is leading an uprising against him.”

  “That’s your first mistake. Believing a vampire.”

  “It’s true, Kaden even said that—”

  “And even if it’s true, it’s not our concern. We just need to hunt and kill them. Every last one,” Walker said.

  “Even the vamp
ire who’s trying to kill other vampires?”

  “What did I just say, darlin’?” he said lightly. “Every last one.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” purred a voice behind us.

  Walker whirled around, dropped me on the concrete behind him, and yanked something long and cylindrical from his waist. I hit the ground hard on my side. The air punched out of my chest, and a rush of warmth poured over my shoulder. I reached up to touch my neck, but my hand was already gloved in blood. Whatever had cut my palm in the alley had cut deep. I felt bile clog the back of my throat.

  “Keep pressure on that,” Walker ordered, but he wasn’t looking at me.

  Walker was aiming a sawed-off shotgun at Kaden and the terrified human he held in front of him. The woman was middle-aged, in her late forties at least, with streaks of tinsel in her dirty-blond hair. Kaden held her like a shield, blocking Walker’s shot. The woman’s eyes were gigantic and petrified. She’d already been bitten. The tears pouring down her cheeks slid over the neat bite marks on her neck and continued down her collar in a pinkish tinge that stained the collar of her shirt.

  I narrowed my eyes on those two, tiny puncture-like wounds on her neck and thought of my own gaping throat. Kaden had been considerably reserved while biting the woman compared to me.

  “Walker,” I murmured. “He doesn’t really want her. He—”

  “Pressure on your neck, DiRocco. Now.”

  I pressed my uninjured palm firmly into my neck, and bit back a whimper.

  “I can heal her,” Kaden said, nodding in my direction.

  “Give me the human, and I won’t shoot,” Walker said calmly.

  Kaden smiled. “You won’t shoot anyway, not while she’s in the line of fire. I’ll give you this human if you give me Cassidy.”

  Walker didn’t so much as bat an eyelash. “I’m not bluffing, and I don’t bargain with vampires. You set the human aside, or I’ll shoot you where you stand. And make no mistake, I’ve loaded silver shot.”

  Kaden nodded. “I’m sure you have. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Bex’s night blood.”

  “I’m not her night blood,” Walker murmured.

  I shifted my eyes back and forth between Walker and Kaden, and my gut tightened. Walker was dead serious. Granted, I hadn’t known him long, but if this was him bluffing, I never wanted to play poker with the man. Kaden, however, was calling that bluff. The same cocky smirk he’d worn while smashing me against the building, tearing out my throat, and rubbing his scent over me was the same expression he wore now while bargaining with Walker. Kaden expected to get his way, and Walker, so help him, wasn’t giving even an inch.

  “Help me,” the woman wheezed in a squeak. “Please, help me.”

  I suddenly recognized her. Without her apron, baker’s hat, and sassy smile, I hadn’t known her, but her voice combined with the tinsel streaks in her dirty-blonde hair finally sparked my memory. The woman Kaden was holding as a shield was none other than Greta’s cousin, Jolene McCall of Jolene’s Cake Designs, the woman I’d interviewed for her grand opening just two days ago.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to speak clearly through the rasp in my throat.

  Jolene blinked at me, recognition spreading across her features. “Ms. DiRocco?”

  “Your bakery is on the other side of the borough,” I insisted. She shouldn’t even be in the area. But then, how did any of us land here in this moment? Did it matter why as long as we survived?

  “I come this way all the time. Greta invited me for dinner,” Jolene whispered. “I always bring dessert.”

  “Have you invited this one into your apartment?” Walker asked.

  It took me a second to realize that Walker was talking to me and referring to Kaden, not Jolene. I glanced at Walker, who stared unflinching and steadily at his target.

  “No,” I croaked.

  “It’s a fair trade, one human for another, and everyone lives.” Kaden said reasonably, stepping forward.

  I cringed back slightly, but Walker was a rock. “If you take one more step—just one—I will shoot.”

  He’s bluffing, I realized. He couldn’t shoot Kaden with a sawed-off shotgun and not hit Jolene. He’d only temporarily wound, or perhaps only anger, Kaden while tearing Jolene to shreds with the spray. If we did trade, however, it might buy us enough time to get Jolene to safety. Walker could always come back for me; Kaden would take his time with me like he wouldn’t with any other human.

  “Kaden’s right,” I said, crawling forward. “It’s a fair trade, one human for another.”

  “Stay back,” Walker warned.

  “He’ll kill her,” I whispered when I was even with him. “He won’t kill me outright. You’ll have time to come back for me.”

  “I’m not coming back for you,” Walker said flatly.

  “All right,” I said, switching gears. After last night, I thought we were a team; I unquestionably would’ve come back for him. A small part of me was surprised, but the embers of my temper, never far from the surface, simply burned hotter with resignation. “Understood. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t—”

  “I’m not coming back for you, because I’m not letting you out of my sight. We’re leaving together, not separately, and not in pieces.”

  I crawled forward, putting myself slightly in front of Walker. “I want to take her place. I have a better chance at surviving and escaping. If we don’t trade, he’ll kill her now.”

  “I’m being exceedingly generous,” Kaden growled. “I could kill both of you and simply take her, but I’m giving you a choice.”

  Walker laughed. “You have to give me a choice unless you want to face Bex and your final death.”

  “Bex is powerful, and she’s a strong ally. I would never deliberately provoke your Master,” Kaden admitted.

  “She’s not my Master,” Walker said through gritted teeth. “And I’m not her night blood. I act on my own terms.”

  “We can both attain what we want tonight and all live.” Kaden took one step closer. Jolene cringed and struggled. “Simply hear me out.”

  Walker pulled the trigger.

  A deafening gunshot exploded from the business end of Walker’s sawed-off shotgun. The ache in my throat indicated that I’d screamed, but I couldn’t hear it. Kaden was a blur of movement, just as impossibly fast as Dominic, if not a pinch faster. But the spray of buckshot was massive, just as I’d anticipated; Walker never would’ve landed his target otherwise. The gun worked on Kaden like it worked on the quick, winged birds it was intended for: Walker was able to clip Kaden midflight. He dropped and crash-landed, motionless on the asphalt. Blood seeped in a spreading pool around his body.

  Walker’s hand clamped on my neck. “Pressure, DiRocco. It’s not that hard a concept.”

  He yanked hard on my upper arm, urging me to stand, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t tear my eyes from Jolene’s massacred body. The last time I saw her, she’d been wearing her jaunty baker’s hat and smiling coyly for Meredith’s picture. She didn’t even have a mouth to smile with now.

  She hadn’t moved like Kaden, so where only two, maybe three, pellets had managed to hit Kaden, the entire front of Jolene’s body had been peppered with buckshot, ravaging her features beyond recognition. Somehow, the spray had spared the left side of her neck, the side that Kaden had bitten. The two neat holes from his fangs were still visible.

  “We’ve got to go. The pellets are silver plated, but that’ll only hold him off for so long.”

  “I would’ve taken her place,” I whispered.

  I could still hear her pleading with Kaden, the panicked squeak in her voice as she begged us to help her. She’d squeaked during our interview, too, from the excitement of giving us cupcakes “for the road.” Meredith and I had both finished our cupcakes before even reaching the curb, they were so damn good.

  I should have snagged those extra copies of the paper for Greta and asked her if Jolene liked our feature. I should have take
n the time to follow up.

  I couldn’t stop staring at what had once been Jolene’s face.

  “Come on, DiRocco,” Walker urged. “Don’t quit on me now.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and tugged me to my feet.

  I slapped at him, but my movements were clumsy and weak. “You killed her!”

  Walker jerked, taken aback. “I saved our asses. Now, let’s go!”

  He scooped me up, one arm under my back and the other under my knees. Holding me across his chest, he ran.

  “What about her?” I gasped. My voice was becoming breathy and hollow. My anger, although fully stoked, was being fueled by fumes. “Who was there to save her ass?”

  “Put pressure on your neck,” Walker snapped.

  “Just put me down.” I struggled, but the city streetlights were whirling, tilting into complete darkness.

  “We’re almost at your apartment. I have a kit on me, but I won’t have much time to get an IV in you before Dominic attacks. It won’t take him long to contain the scene with Kaden down.” Walker sighed and spoke almost to himself. “He’ll know I’m with you in your apartment.”

  “If you take me to the hospital, instead of my apartment, you won’t have to worry about him entering and attacking us. I haven’t given him permission to enter the hospital like I have my apartment. We’d be safe at the hospital.”

  Walker pursed his lips.

  “But you don’t want us safe. You just want a chance to kill Dominic,” I said, bitterly, hating that Dominic was right but hating that Walker was using me as bait even more.

  “Of course I want you safe,” Walker said, looking affronted. “What do you think the IV is for? Maybe if you had called out sick, like I suggested, you wouldn’t need it now.”

  I blinked. “Where did you get an IV?”

  Walker sighed. “I should’ve brought blood, too, but I didn’t anticipate this. You were supposed to stay with your brother tonight. You were supposed to be safe.”

  “Who could have anticipated what happened tonight? You were supposed to be my backup against the monsters, not one of them,” I murmured, thinking of Jolene, her lips trembling as she pleaded with us to help her. “God, she was so scared.”