Jace was face down now and struggling to crawl away as the creature grabbed his leg and pulled it toward its mouth. Ew, it was looking to try some leg next. Jace yelled a creative combination of obscenities which were tough to make out with his face against the floor, but – ‘Get it off me!’ – that part I could understand. He kicked out with his other foot and connected with the zombie’s chin, a move that looked more like luck than skill.
It didn’t matter how he’d done it, but Jace was free and that’s what counted. The zombie was out in the open, crouched down and shaking its head in disorientation. Soft red hair glinted under the spotlights and made my stomach twist with pity. This had been a kid – a kid not unlike me or even Jace. A boy whose life was over, no chance of coming back. Not even a chance at a half-life like mine.
I bit down on my pity and focused on Rick’s clouded eyes and blood-stained mouth. The remains of Nurse Fox scattered around the floor in glistening piles were all the reminder I needed.
I pressed the aerosol’s button and sprayed the hopefully highly flammable contents at the zombie. I flicked the switch on the lighter and watched with grim fascination as the vivid blue flame leaped to a surprising height and ignited the chemical-smelling mist.
The results were pretty spectacular.
It was like having a miniature flamethrower at my fingertips: kind of fun, but also incredibly scary. Not to mention painful. Flames shot out in an arc as I waved the can back and forth, sweeping a long line of fire at the zombie. With a whoomph that forced me to take a step back, flames shot up and hit the ceiling as Rick lit up like a torch.
The T-shirt caught fire first, quickly followed by the jeans. Finally the bright orange hair – the most human part that remained – burst into flames. His waxy skin burned and peeled, the smell of rancid meat becoming overwhelming in the restricted space.
The creepiest part of the whole spectacle was the silence. The zombie didn’t make a sound. None of the growls it had emitted earlier; no sign of pain or distress; more like a passive sense of waiting for the end. Was it – he – at peace? Death didn’t always mean the end of pain and suffering.
For me – for vampires – death wasn’t the end at all. I had gone on. I endured, whether I wanted to or not.
The thing that used to be a budding artist called Rick fell to its knees and burned.
Water suddenly sprayed onto my face, and I realized that the sprinkler system had kicked in. I tipped back my head and opened my mouth for a moment, closing my eyes against the impromptu shower.
Ouch. My fingers were burning and I’d lost most of the skin on my left hand. Despite the pain, I couldn’t help being curious about whether or not my fingerprints would grow back when I healed. Vampires healed pretty fast, even the young ones, so I wasn’t worried about burn scars. A lot of the old myths about vampires were true, but not so much where fire was concerned. Sure, I could get burned and it would hurt, but it wouldn’t kill me. I’d heal. Maybe if a vampire was set alight the way I’d just burned Zombie Boy, then they’d be in trouble.
Whatever. Right now I had to deal with the unfortunate remains of Rick, without getting anybody else killed. And figure out what had actually happened to him in the first place. Was his horrific transformation a fluke? There was nothing left of him – no chance of finding clues that might lead me to his murderer. I’d come here in the hopes of discovering something useful, maybe even something that could improve my standing with Theo’s Family and the Elders, but all I had was a pile of dust and an even bigger mystery to solve.
My heightened senses recoiled from the combined stench of blood and ash.
‘I gotta hand it to you, that was pretty cool.’ Jace used the hem of his T-shirt to dab at the blood that was still trickling from his nose. Sprinkler water stood out on his long eyelashes like fat diamonds. He blinked them away, then shook his head and splashed more water all over me.
‘Yeah, I feel so incredibly cool about ending a kid’s life.’ I tried not to look too hard at the blood on his lips; it was making my stomach hurt.
‘I didn’t mean it like that—’
The door handle rattled and Jace stopped talking, his jaw actually clicking shut. The color drained from his face as he stared at me and then at the door.
‘Oh, shit,’ we said in unison.
Chapter Six
‘HEY,’ A MUFFLED voice said from outside in the corridor. ‘There’s something wrong with the door.’
Another voice. ‘Ah, hell. Foxy must’ve locked it – we need to get the damn sprinkler system shut off. I told her to leave the door open – the authorities are screaming for that kid’s body. The Spook Squad has put in an official request too. Some weirdo in a suit already turned up at Reception.’
‘Shut up,’ said the first guy. ‘You’re not supposed to talk about them.’
‘Aw, who’s listening down here? Stop being so damn paranoid.’
Jace took a visibly deep breath. ‘OK. This isn’t good.’
‘You think?’ I swiped angrily at a few tears that had leaked out. Considering the fact that we were both soaked through, I don’t know why I even bothered.
‘Well, at least one of us is thinking. How are we supposed to get out of here? Look what you did to the door.’
I shushed him. ‘Wait, I think they might be leaving.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Only to get the key. And then they’ll figure out it’s not even locked – someone busted it.’ He gave me a meaningful look.
The twisted mess that used to be the door handle mocked me. I bit my lip. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time,’ I said in a small voice. ‘I was trying to keep Rick in.’
Jace ran a hand through his water-darkened hair. ‘And what are we going to do about the evidence? Once they come in here and find all this . . .’ His voice trailed off. He shook his head, clearly frustrated at the whole new level of crazy his life had achieved. ‘There’ll be fingerprints all over the place and that’s not going to be good.’
‘Why do we need to worry about that? It’s not like they have us programmed into some sort of top-secret super-villain database.’
Jace’s eye slid away from mine.
I put my hands on my hips. ‘Why on earth would anyone have your fingerprints on record? You’re practically still a kid – you’re nineteen, right?’
‘Depends what ID I use,’ he muttered.
I rolled my eyes and concentrated on the door. I had to get it open, and fast. Someone had shut off the water, meaning it wouldn’t be long before those guys came back.
I gripped the handle and tried to force the bent metal back into shape – at least so the stupid thing would open. My extra vamp-strength was occasionally useful, but I sometimes wished I wasn’t the kind of girl who could pop the top off a beer without breaking a sweat.
With an ominous cracking sound, I wrenched the handle off the door. A hole surrounded by tiny, twisted steel teeth seemed to grin at me.
‘Oops,’ I said.
Jace was by my side in an instant. ‘What do you mean, “oops”? I don’t like the sound of “oops”.’
I tried to hide the door handle behind my back, and then realized it was pointless. He could see exactly what the problem was by looking at the gaping hole in the door. I turned away from the exasperation on his face, wondering if I could catch just one tiny piece of luck today. One stinking break, that’s all I asked. I hardly ask for anything, I thought. Is this really too much?
Before Jace could explode, I touched the smooth surface of the door with a tentative hand. Hooking my fingers into the hole where the door handle had been, I tugged gently and was rewarded – finally! – when the door simply opened.
‘See?’ I said, giving my scowling companion a smug look. ‘No trouble. I did that on purpose.’
Jace grunted and pushed me to one side. ‘Follow me.’
‘Hey, I got us out of here. I’m going first.’ I tried to edge back in front of him, only to find he was already halfway through
the door.
‘Stop making so much noise,’ he hissed as I tried to push him out of the way.
Grumbling under my breath, I followed him out of the basement room, wondering what on earth the authorities were going to make of the mess we were leaving behind. And what was this ‘Spook Squad’ that those guys had mentioned? They didn’t sound like people I wanted to run into anytime soon.
The corridors seemed endless, and I was certain there had been more lights on earlier. Eventually, we saw signs of life and I began to hope that we might actually get away without any further setbacks.
I don’t know why I even let myself think such crazy thoughts.
A janitor in gray coveralls and a heavy belt loaded down with tools half-heartedly mopped the floor near a door conveniently marked FIRE ESCAPE – but he didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary.
‘Just keep walking,’ Jace whispered. ‘He doesn’t care about us.’
As we passed the ‘janitor’, the staccato crackle of a walkie-talkie broke the quiet. We froze. The man cursed and grabbed for the black unit hidden among all the other crap in his utility belt. ‘Intruders are leaving via exit seventeen!’ he shouted into the walkie-talkie.
I didn’t hang around to see who he might be talking to, pumping my arms and racing further along the hallway. Jace’s footsteps pounded the floor behind me. I heard him panting for breath and forced myself to slow my pace. No way he could keep up with vamp speed, no matter how fit he was.
Slamming through the door at the end, I found myself in yet another corridor, this one lined with floor-to-ceiling storage lockers. It ended in a solid door. Locked. I examined the handle and it looked like one of those fancy hotel mechanisms with a slot for a key-card. I stepped back, preparing to kick it open – or, at least, to try – but Jace reached my side and pulled me back.
‘Wait,’ he said, still breathing heavily. He produced a bright yellow plastic card.
I stared at it for a moment. ‘Where’d you get that?’
‘That fake janitor’s belt,’ he replied, flashing me a quick grin. ‘Remember, I’ve been here before – I know a staff pass when I see one.’
I thought: He isn’t just a wannabe hunter, now he’s a thief. A pick-pocketing, vampire-hunting thief. He was even sneakier than me, which was a strange thing to realize. I kind of liked it.
He operated the key-card and the door opened. ‘After you,’ he said, sweeping me a low bow.
We ended up in a typical industrial basement. It was huge, badly lit, and smelled of laundry. It was clearly a storage room of some sort, which might mean . . . deliveries! I spotted an emergency exit all the way across the cavernous space before Jace did, my eyes adjusting to the darkness almost immediately.
‘Over there,’ I said, barely able to contain my excitement.
But the very moment I spotted our potential escape route, the door we’d just come through rattled.
‘They couldn’t have gotten through here,’ a male voice declared.
A woman replied, ‘I’ll be the judge of that. Just get it open.’
I froze, like a rabbit caught in a wolf’s gaze, but Jace herded me over to what looked like a utility closet against the wall. He pulled open the door – thankfully, it swung open on well-oiled hinges – and nudged me inside, putting a finger to his lips before following me into the cramped darkness. The closet was empty apart from a long coat and several uniforms hanging from a rail attached to the ceiling. I wondered if I’d find Narnia if I kept walking.
Two sets of footsteps marched into the delivery area, just as Jace pulled the door almost shut. He left it cracked open, probably to avoid the noise of closing it fully, but also so he could catch a slivered glimpse of what was happening outside.
I could hear his quiet breathing in the confined space, and for once found myself glad that I didn’t have to breathe anymore. I never, ever believed I’d think something like that about my undead status. I leaned against the metal wall of the closet, trying to stay as far away from my companion as I could. At such close quarters, I became horribly aware of his body heat – and of the blood running through his veins. I was tired, hungry and freaked out by everything that had happened in the last couple of hours. Being so close to human warmth was making me twitchy. A faint silver light began to combat the gloom, and I realized that it was coming from me – from my eyes, as they responded to my hunger.
Crap. I quickly closed them and willed them to stop glowing, hoping that Jace hadn’t noticed.
I felt, rather than saw, him turn to face me. I opened one eye and almost sank to the floor with relief when I didn’t repeat my inconvenient impression of a flashlight. I opened my other eye and we gazed at each other through the gap in the uniforms hanging between us. He didn’t look away – surprising, considering how furious he’d been when I’d somehow managed to slip inside his head earlier.
Maybe Jason Murdoch was actually starting to trust me. Saving each other’s lives could have that effect, I guess.
The two voices moved further away. Someone cursed as he – or she – tripped over something, and then the door opened and clicked shut.
Jace nodded at me after waiting another minute. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
We bolted from the closet and made for the exit. Jace carefully wiped the key-card for prints and threw it across the room as we pushed our way out into daylight.
I blinked, grabbing my sunglasses from an inside jacket pocket as the sudden brightness burned my eyes. I could hardly believe they hadn’t been crushed in the fight with Zombie Rick.
We were in some kind of parking lot. A couple of large delivery vans protected us from potential scrutiny, and beyond them I could see the tops of trees hiding where the main road would be.
Jace checked left and right, then ducked back behind the shelter of one of the vehicles. ‘So, I guess this is it . . . Moth.’
He held out a business card. I took it and glanced down. A phone number stood out, printed neatly in black ink. Nothing else marked the stark white card. I looked at him, surprised. Confused. Maybe a little pleased but not wanting to show it.
Jace folded his arms and shrugged. ‘Just in case you find out what happened to the kid. I have a bad feeling about it – maybe we haven’t seen the last of whatever that was. It’s probably a good idea to figure out what we can.’
I wanted to make a witty comment, something about how he’d just given a vampire his cell phone number, but for once I was lost for words. Why would he really give me this? Was it all about the so-called zombie? What else could he possibly have to gain? I kept my mouth shut and carefully slipped the card into my jeans pocket.
He pulled out his cell phone and raised an eyebrow. The one with the piercing. ‘Are you going to give me yours, or what?’
‘Oh.’ Flustered, I recited my number. What would Theo say? I pushed that thought aside. I could make my own decisions.
Jace had an expression of mock-sympathy on his face. ‘I can imagine you don’t get asked for your number too often.’
I opened my mouth. Closed it again and thought for a moment. ‘I do too.’ Genius response, Moth.
‘Riiight,’ Jace said. ‘Of course.’
I gave him the finger but he just laughed.
‘I’m going to do some research,’ he continued coolly, as though the whole phone-number thing hadn’t happened. ‘Dad’s books are in our new apartment. Most of them are still packed away in boxes, but I guess this’ll give me a reason to sort through them. I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting.’
‘OK. I’ll see you then,’ I said, forcing a smile. I took care to keep my fangs hidden. It was so bizarre to actually be having a normal conversation with him – one that didn’t involve looking down the business end of a crossbow.
His answering grin was wicked. ‘Not if I see you first.’
Chapter Seven
SATURDAY NIGHT I headed over to my Maker’s home. This evening had come around far too quickly, but now that i
t was here I was a bundle of nerves.
The November night was cool and frosted with a light mist that wrapped itself around me, whispering of the hunt. I took an icy breath, shaking off those instincts, burying them somewhere deep.
Theo’s house was hidden in the heart of the appropriately affluent Beacon Hill. He owned several places across the country; you don’t live for almost two centuries without accumulating wealth and property. But it was no wonder that Theo preferred to stay right here in Boston. You could walk along Beacon Street on a winter’s night and truly believe you were in another century. Gas lamps lined the roadside, standing guard over town houses with wrought-iron gates, fancy windows, and even roof gardens. Theo had one of those, of course, even though he could only go out there at night.
Most vampires slept below ground, but Theo preferred to live here, in this house, at all times of day. There were heavy curtains at every window, and he slept in a third-floor room with shutters both inside and out, but he wanted to be in his own home as much as possible.
I waited impatiently for him to finish dressing for the evening’s oh-so-joyous activities – my official introduction to the Elders who oversaw Theo’s vampire Family in Boston. I was possibly more scared at the prospect of this dubious ‘honor’ than I had been of my undead encounter with Rick, since by Making me without permission, Theo had apparently broken one of the High Council’s most precious rules. Now the Elders had arrived to get an explanation – and to finally meet me, after Theo had kept me damn near hidden for the better part of a year.
My Maker’s place had been a surprise to me, back when I’d first seen it. Considering that he purposely cultivated an image of the decadent Gothic vampire, most people probably expected to find his home would reflect that in some way. Lots of velvet, maybe. A four-poster bed and candles on every surface of the room. Black and deepest crimson. On the outside, it fitted him perfectly; it was an old, old house, as most were in this part of the city. But it was entirely modern on the inside. It was kitted out in a contemporary but comfortable style, lots of smooth lines and reflective surfaces. Beautifully cultivated plants filled the entry hall, one of my Maker’s unexpected hobbies. And the space . . . space like you wouldn’t believe. The first-floor dining room was bigger than the whole of the tiny apartment Holly and I currently called ‘home’ – owned, of course, by Theo. The fourth floor was the only ornate part of the building, having been converted into a cathedral-style meeting space, all vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows. I half expected bats to live in the belfry.
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