“No, Molly,” Sasha said, furiously organizing questions in her head. “You are right, and I won’t pretend anymore. I am what you think I am, but I am not like the things that did this.”
“OK,” Molly said.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Someone came to the door. I was supposed to be asleep but I was reading, and I heard them knock. There was some talking for a while, and then this huge crashing noise and all this shouting. That’s when I got out of bed … but I heard my mom screaming, and my dad was shouting too and then … then …” Molly’s voice wavered.
“It’s all right,” Sasha said, trying to sound comforting. It was not a natural tone of voice for her, and she doubted that she had done a particularly convincing job.
“It is not all right!” Molly cried. “They took them! They took my mom and dad and they’ve only even been my mom and dad for like two months and they took them and they killed my fucking dog!”
The flashlight dropped from her lap as Molly brought her hands up to her face, voicing a series of harsh sobs. It fell clattering down the stairs and spun on the hardwood floor, casting deranged shadows across the living room. Sasha took a moment to look around. She saw signs of a struggle: broken furniture, a large hole in one wall and, behind an overturned easy chair, the corpse of the dog. Its neck was bent in an impossible direction.
Not wanting Molly to see this, Sasha took two quick steps forward, leaned down, and returned the dog’s head to an appropriate position. There was no noise, but Sasha could feel the shattered bones grinding against each other. Animals, she thought.
Above her, Molly’s loud sobbing had become something more gentle, but the girl’s face was still buried in her hands. Sasha picked up the flashlight and climbed up to the landing, sitting down next to the girl. She didn’t put her arm around Molly, nor did she think Molly would have wanted her to.
“It only hurt him for a moment,” Sasha said. “The dog, I mean. It didn’t last long.”
Molly took a hitching breath, made another sobbing noise, and spoke into her hands. “Don’t tell me he’s gone to a better place. I don’t w—want to hear it.”
Sasha, having no intention of telling Molly any such thing, said nothing. She was thinking. Jakob was not here, nor were the girl’s parents. She would have to search the rest of the house, of course, but knew she would find nothing. Jakob would not have been killed without a fight, and if there had been a fight, there would have been at least some blood spilled. Sasha could smell none. Clearly, he had been abducted along with Molly’s parents.
“I have to go,” Sasha said out loud.
Molly looked up at her, rubbing the back of her arm across her eyes, and said, “I’m coming with you.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I want to help find my mom and dad.”
“I know, Molly, but—”
“But what? What am I supposed to do, lady? Two’s gone. My parents are gone. Where do you want me to go?”
That’s not my problem, Sasha thought to herself, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to abandon the girl here.
“I can take you somewhere safe,” she offered.
“I don’t want to go somewhere safe. I want to go with you and find them.”
“I want to find them, too, and my friend Jakob, but that’s not going to be easy. I don’t know where they’ve been taken. I have to go and talk with my people.”
“So take me with you.”
“I can’t. It’s … you’re not one of us.”
“Shoulda thought about that before you busted up into our house and killed our dog,” Molly spat.
“That was not my people.”
“Don’t care. You owe me! I’m not staying here. You’re not leaving me here. I’ll do whatever you want … help you, or whatever, but you’re not leaving me here.”
Sasha blew air through pursed lips and bit her tongue for a moment, thinking. Then she handed the flashlight to Molly.
“Fine,” she said. “Until we find your parents, you do whatever I tell you to do, whenever I tell you to do it. If you don’t like that, I will happily drop you on a curb somewhere and you can decide your own path from there. I am a woman of very little patience. Is that clear?”
Molly nodded. “OK. What do you want me to do?”
“First? Go upstairs and get dressed. We cannot stay here.”
“All right. What’s your name?”
“Sasha.”
Molly opened her mouth to ask another question, but Sasha interrupted her.
“There will be time in the car. Go get dressed.”
Molly shut her mouth and did as she was told.
* * *
She stopped for a moment to kneel next to Jake’s body, fresh tears squeezing from her puffy red eyes and rolling down her cheeks. They fell on the dog’s muzzle and soaked into his fur.
“Goodbye, Jake,” Molly said. She scratched the spot between his eyes, as he’d always loved, and then kissed him there. After a moment more she stood and, wiping her tears away, nodded to Sasha.
“I’m sorry,” Sasha said, indicating toward the dog’s inert form. “After we leave, I will call some people to take care of him.”
Molly tried a smile, couldn’t manage it, and shrugged instead. “OK.”
“Will you be all right?”
“I’ll live. Been through worse. Could really use a fix, though.”
“A what?”
“Forget it. Let’s just go.”
A thought occurred to Sasha, and she paused. “Do you have school tomorrow?”
Molly made a noise that Sasha supposed held some relation to a laugh and said, “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“No, but—”
“Look, I spent the last couple years fucking people for smack, OK? It doesn’t matter if I make honor roll.”
“If you would let me finish, I was going to say: ‘but it is a good idea to take care of loose ends.’ I can have someone from the police contact your school and take care of the situation.”
“Oh,” Molly said. “Sorry. I—”
“Your past does not matter to me, nor does your academic standing. To use your terminology: I don’t care how many people you’ve fucked, and I don’t care how much smack you’ve taken, as long as you’re not taking it anymore. It’s irrelevant.”
Molly said nothing. Sasha continued.
“I do not like children. I’m going to treat you as an adult. It’s up to you to behave like one. Do so, and I’ll let you stay with me while I search for Jakob and your parents, at least for now. Don’t, and I leave you behind.”
“OK,” Molly said.
Sasha nodded, satisfied. “I know you’re hurting. I am trying to help you.”
“I know. Sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” Sasha said, starting for the door. “Now, you’re going to do something that very, very few humans have ever done … though your friend Two is one of them.”
“What is it?” Molly asked, following her.
“You’re going to walk in on a vampire council meeting.”
* * *
“Oh, this is just brilliant!”
Leonore’s voice was caustic in its disgust. She was standing up, staring at Sasha, who was making her way down the aisle and toward the front of the converted church with Molly in tow.
“Kindly lower your voice,” Malik said, his voice haggard.
“She’s late … Jakob is still nowhere to be seen … and she has a human child with her!”
“And knowing Sasha, I have little doubt that she has explanations for all of those things,” Malik replied.
“Well, I think—”
“No one cares what you think!” Sasha snapped as she came down the aisle. “Sit down, hold your tongue, and extend some respect to your elders.”
Leonore looked none too pleased by this verbal slap, but she did as she was told. Sasha stepped up in front of the assembled council. Molly was looking around, wide-eyed a
nd curious, but thus far adhering to Sasha’s command that she was to say nothing.
“Something has gone very wrong,” Malik said.
“Oh, yes,” Sasha replied.
“What can you tell us?”
“Not enough. This is Molly Thompson. She is the adopted daughter of the two humans that Jakob saved from the Burilgi last year. The two who were in the Eresh-Chen’s apartment.”
“Former Eresh-Chen,” Leonore said. Sasha whirled on her.
“Speak another word,” she snarled. “Go ahead. I dare you to. I want you to.”
Leonore chose to ignore this request. After a moment, Sasha turned back to Malik.
“Where is your sire?” he asked.
“The Burilgi took him, along with the girl’s parents.”
“Fuck!” Lewis shouted from somewhere behind her.
“This is … not good,” Malik agreed. “We had hoped that Jakob would arrive in time to protect them from Aros’s forces.”
“Apparently,, they were attacked by numerous Burilgi just after Jakob arrived,” Sasha said. “The girl was upstairs, and they missed her. As far as I can tell, there was a struggle but no one was killed.”
“Except my dog,” Molly exclaimed and then, remembering that she was not supposed to speak, said, “Oh, sorry.”
“Dog?” Malik asked.
Sasha rolled her eyes. “The woman, Sarah Thompson, is blind. She had a guide dog. It must have attacked one of the Burilgi, and they broke its neck.”
“Ah,” Malik was paying only cursory attention, pondering the situation.
“We need Jakob,” Sasha said. “The council needs him, and he’s not safe with Aros.”
“Yes, but we can’t be hasty.”
“Hasty?” Sasha was taken aback. “Malik, they’ve abducted a council member. We need to get him back!”
“If we move too quickly, we risk bringing harm to Jakob or the humans. Aros is not known for patience and tolerance.”
“Of course I am concerned for his safety,” Sasha said, “but I … I believe we must act quickly and decisively to show that the council will not tolerate this sort of action.”
“I understand. Still, it will be difficult for a variety of reasons.”
“Such as?” Sasha prompted.
Lewis spoke up again. “Such as, none of us know where Aros is, let alone where he’s keeping Jakob and the girl’s parents.”
* * *
“Well, that was an exquisite waste of time,” Sasha growled. She and Molly were back in the Cadillac, driving toward Sasha’s apartment.
“No kidding,” Molly said, and yawned. She looked exhausted, and Sasha supposed that made sense. The girl was supposed to be asleep right now.
“I’m not going to sit around and wait while the council hems and haws,” Sasha said. “I need to figure out where Aros is hiding. This is a dangerous time for the council, and we need Jakob alive.”
“Didn’t that Lewis guy say he met with Aros?”
“Yes, but apparently not at Aros’s main base of operations.”
“Oh.”
“It’s ridiculous that we have allowed him to do these things without punishment. Ridiculous,” Sasha said. During the meeting, Lewis had given the rest of the council the same information that he had earlier given to Malik and Jakob: Aros was building an army.
Molly didn’t say anything. These issues were beyond her. She just wanted Rhes and Sarah back, wanted to see that they were OK. She wanted to feel their arms around her, hear them tell her everything was going to be fine. It wasn’t fair. Things had just finally started to seem normal.
Sasha chewed on her lip, watching the road and also not saying anything. Molly glanced over at her. “You’re worried about your friend.”
“Jakob can take care of himself,” Sasha said.
Molly yawned again. “Doesn’t mean you’re not worried about him.”
“I don’t worry.”
Molly gave her a surprisingly adult smile. “Sure. Where are we going?”
“My apartment.”
“Oh. Is it as nice as your car?”
Sasha smiled. “You’ll have to decide for yourself.”
“Mm. Hey … Sasha?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for, you know … not leaving me.”
Sasha shrugged.
“No, seriously,” Molly continued. “I know you could have. What was I gonna do, right? I mean, I’m like … dinner to you guys. I understand that.”
Sasha gave a small laugh. “No, it’s not like that. Not exactly.”
“But you don’t really like humans, right?”
“I don’t. That’s true.”
“So …” Molly paused, thinking.
“Yes?”
“So why’d you take me with you?”
Sasha considered this for a time and then said, “When I was eighteen, Napoleon’s armies invaded my land. A group of his men murdered my parents and were pursuing me as I ran from our farm. I imagine they would have raped me first and then killed me. Jakob appeared out of nowhere and slaughtered them all. Six of them, and he was finished with them almost before they knew what was happening. I watched in awe and, at the end, when he bowed to me and turned to leave, I begged him to take me with him. I didn’t know what he was, only that he had saved my life.
“I told him I would do anything for him, would serve him in any way he asked, if only he would not abandon me. I had nothing else. My parents were dead, the young man I would have married had been killed fighting in Sweden two years earlier, even my home was in flames. There was nothing left … except Jakob.
“He took me with him. I was alone and had no one else to turn to, and Jakob took me in. He taught me to fight, showed me what I could be, and gave me my chance at immortality.”
Sasha looked over at Molly, who was listening intently.
“Your situation is not the same as mine, but I felt the echo of the past. I remembered Jakob’s kindness, and felt that I could do no less.”
Molly smiled, then laughed a bit.
“What is it?” Sasha asked.
“Nothing.”
Sasha looked over at Molly again, tilting her head. Molly grinned.
“You’re just not as much of a bitch as you try to be.”
Chapter 17
The Burilgi King
Sarah Thompson had been hearing the voices for some time now, although time would have been difficult enough to gauge even if she could see. At least then there might have been some hint – the progression of sunlight on a wall, perhaps. Sarah was trapped in a world of darkness, lying on a cold steel floor, unsure of anything except that she had been taken forcibly from her home, separated from her husband, and thrown into what must undoubtedly be a cell. Judging time was essentially impossible.
Though she could not see her surroundings, she had managed to struggle to a sitting position, leaning against the wall. She sat, wondering what fate held in store for her. She had finished crying, had finished screaming, and had spent the past – whatever – simply breathing, trying not to let her fear overwhelm her again, and listening to the voices.
“Ki epile kom Aros fite? Na chole,” said the hissing voice that Sarah had come to think of as The Rat.
“Sa mokoste kel, vi tao chareson sata imrati jal,” said the other, a slow and dopey voice that seemed to struggle with the foreign language it was speaking. Sarah had nicknamed this one The Dunce.
“Na vose taravas a ker,” The Rat replied.
“Sa lur se. Na vateto kom tao majeto a Nikki. Tao paceto kel kuessa pha chesas essi morteto kel javin.”
“Fan? Ghaso?”
“Tao se fusto. Ghaso fusto. Nan loraden empas fam nan loraden fusto.”
“Na osame. Sa prise kel teo se progos?”
“Na vobreve. Setra vort fiteto tao nifleto kel … damn, how do you say ‘screaming’?” The Dunce asked.
“Quovre.”
“Right … quovre vilmon, munta tao praveto ae karecomar.”
“Nan lur ustalon omrinen rotan. Na se lostro.”
“That’s why I want to stop!” The Rat exclaimed. There was laughter, and then the voices trailed off a bit, other than an occasional curse in English or murmur that she couldn’t catch.
Sarah tried, as best she could, to determine what exactly had happened earlier in the evening. Jakob had told them that they were in danger, and almost immediately his words had been proven true. There had been a crash, and the sound of glass breaking, and then the rapid shuffling noise of a group of people entering the brownstone. Jake had started barking, and then he’d made a noise that Sarah had understood, instantly, was the last he would ever make. Thinking back on this now, she felt a wave of heart-wrenching sadness. Jake had been a constant companion for almost eight years of her life and had been responsible for her meeting Rhes. He’d deserved better.
During the commotion, Sarah had been grabbed by both of her arms, and a rough hand had slapped over her mouth after only a couple of screams. Rhes had barely had time to begin shouting before he’d made a strangled noise, and a young voice had said, “Make any more noise and we’ll kill blind-o over there. We only need one of you.”
“This one here is Ay’Araf,” another voice had said. “What’s your name, pig?”
Jakob hadn’t deigned to answer, and Sarah had heard the sound of blows landing.
“I asked you a question, you elitist piece of shit,” the voice had snarled. Jakob had laughed at it.
“By all means, keep hitting me,” he’d said.
Sarah had thought that Jakob was trying to stall their assailants, waiting for reinforcements of some kind. One of the Burilgi in the room must have had the same thought.
“Fuck it,” a female voice had said. “Take him with us. Let’s go.”
There had been pain then, a sharp jab in her arm, just below the edge of her sleeve, and the last thing Sarah had heard before waking up in this cell was the woman’s voice saying, “Cooperate with us or we’ll pick one of them to kill, got it?”
After that there was not blackness, but rather a startling loss of time. She did not remember passing out, did not remember dreaming. It had seemed merely seconds between those words and waking up on the floor of her cell, disoriented and nauseated from the drugs. She had sat up, leaned sideways and vomited, and then had begun calling for help. When that hadn’t worked, the tears had started, prompted by fear, anger, and an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
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