by E. S. Moore
“Do you belong to one of the Houses?” I asked.
His forehead crinkled as if I had insulted him and he shook his head.
“Then you are rogue, correct?”
He nodded again.
“Stay that way. If you fall under the power of a vampire House, then you are nothing more than a slave, a pawn they will use in their games. Do you want to be a slave, Jeremy?”
“No,” he said, his voice somewhat stronger than it had been a moment before.
“I’m giving you this one chance to make amends for tonight. The last few nights have royally sucked for me, and one more body isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference in the long run. I don’t want to kill you, however. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to end up a corpse, now do you?”
Jeremy stared at me and didn’t respond. His jaw had quit quivering, but his body still shook beneath me. I realized I was probably hurting him with how tight I had my legs clamped around him. I didn’t ease up. The pain and fear might do him some good. If it could keep him from making the same mistake twice, then every ounce of pain would be worth it.
“I’m going to get up and let you walk away,” I said. “I don’t do this often. Never, actually. If I ever find out you went ahead and hunted someone else tonight, I will find you. If you hunt anywhere within the city, I will find you. It won’t be hard. You gave me your name. I can find you wherever you are. Do you believe that?”
Jeremy paled and nodded.
“This is your last chance to keep your humanity. Don’t waste it.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Jeremy tensed beneath me but didn’t try anything. I opened my eyes and stared at him as if I could bore a hole straight through his head. “I can’t save myself, but I can at least try to save you.”
I let my fangs push all the way through my gums and blood spurted free. It splattered on Jeremy’s face. Some got in his mouth. He cried out and began to thrash under me, spitting and gagging.
“It won’t taint you,” I said, rising. He promptly reached up and wiped the blood away with his sleeve. “There isn’t enough there to taint you even if you were to swallow it all. Just take it as a warning. There are worse things than death, and if you continue on the path you are going, someone less inclined to set you free will show you all the nightmarish things that can be inflicted on someone like you.”
I turned and walked away, leaving Jeremy to scrub at his face and hands. He could scrub as hard as he wanted, but the real taint, the taint inside him, would never go away.
6
I don’t remember a good portion of the night. I just drove around and tried not to think about the mess my life had become. There was so much I hated about what I did, and yet, I couldn’t quit. Quitting would be too much like giving in, and I was definitely not someone who gave in easily, if at all.
And the thing was, I wasn’t even sure what was bothering me exactly. I should have been happy I might have set someone down the right path, even if it was only for a day or two. Jeremy Lincoln might never be normal—he was a werewolf now, which pretty much excluded normalcy—but there was a chance he might not end up following some Count’s orders, killing innocents just for the fun of it.
Of course, there was the Luna Cult. Just thinking about them made me sick to my stomach. They wanted something from me, and there was only one way I could find out what it might be. Did I really want to go walking into the Den? I might have been invited, but that didn’t mean I was going to be welcome.
Eventually, I headed home. Driving around, thinking about what I might or might not do, wasn’t going to help anything. I needed to act.
The house looked empty from the outside. I approached warily on my motorcycle, knowing if anyone other than Ethan was inside, they probably already knew I was coming. Even with Ethan’s modifications, the Honda was still relatively loud compared with the silence in which our house usually sat.
I pulled into the garage and coasted to a stop. I sat there, listening to the sound of the night wind whistling through the eaves. It had gotten colder during the night. I felt chilled from both the dropping temperature and my fear of what I would find when I went inside. I never should have left.
I knew my fears were irrational. If the Luna Cult really wanted to meet with me, they wouldn’t risk sending someone else. Of course, they could always decide I wasn’t worth the trouble and attempt to eliminate me.
Or I was just being paranoid. It wouldn’t be the first time.
I slipped off the bike and drew my gun. Dawn was fast approaching. Though I couldn’t see the sun quite yet, I could feel its creeping rays working their way toward the horizon. Soon, the telltale orange glow of the coming dawn would weaken me.
I crept toward the side door, each step slow and measured. I listened at the door, hoping to hear Ethan moving around in the kitchen, or hear the television blaring, though neither of us ever watched the thing.
There was nothing.
Of course, I really hadn’t expected there to be. Ethan would most likely be downstairs in his lab. And if another Cultist had decided to break in, there was a good chance he was hiding like the last.
I pressed myself against the wall as I removed the key. The wind gusted outside as I slid the key into the lock and turned it. The door fell slowly open. It squeaked open louder than I would have liked.
I waited. The garage had no windows, so I couldn’t see out. Someone could have been watching me from the trees as I pulled up and could be working their way to the house that very moment. I hadn’t even thought to pause to check behind me when I came up the drive. Anyone could have followed me.
My paranoia leaped to new heights. I had half a mind to open the garage door and peek outside before heading into the house, just to be sure no one was out there.
But that would take time. If someone was indeed inside, I couldn’t waste any more time than I already had. I needed to get this over with before I drove myself mad.
I took a deep breath and glanced around the corner, spied the empty kitchen, and worked my way slowly around the corner until I was inside.
A solitary bowl sat in the sink and the lights were off. It reminded me too much of what had happened the night before and my grip tightened on the gun. What would I do if someone else was in the house? What if they had already gotten to Ethan?
I couldn’t think like that. I could feel my anger boiling under the surface. My gums were tender from earlier and I could feel my teeth wanting to push through yet again.
I pushed my paranoia as far back as I could and tried to focus on the task at hand. Just a quick sweep through the house to make sure no one was lurking; then I could be done with this.
I sidestepped, gun pointed toward the dining room. The large curtains over the glass back door were pulled open. A glance outside showed me no one and I continued on into the living room.
Nothing moved. A small half-wall separated the living room from the front foyer, and a closed closet was just inside the front door. My eyes swept over the living room before checking the stair wells leading both upstairs and downstairs. All the lights were off, and my enhanced vision was unable to pick anything up as I moved toward the closet.
No one was in the foyer, which wasn’t a surprise. The half-wall might have hidden them from view, but it would have been an awfully bad place to hide. I opened the sliding closet door, poking my gun in before I could see what was inside. A handful of coats and jackets, mostly Ethan’s, hung from the heavy wooden hangers inside. Three pairs of work boots rested on the floor, and a fire-resistant chest sat in the dark corner.
Otherwise, the closet was empty.
I left the closet door open as I made my way from the foyer back into the living room. From there I had to choose which way to go. The upstairs contained three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was unlikely Ethan would be up there. It was still too early.
No, if anyone was in the house, they would be downstairs. If it was only Ethan, he would be hard at work repairing my
weapons. Besides, there wasn’t much upstairs that would be of interest to anyone but me.
I took the stairs heading down into the sitting room sideways, making myself as small a target as I could. I reached the landing without confrontation and scanned the room slowly, making sure I verified that every shadowy corner was empty.
A fireplace stood against the wall, its embers cool since winter. Three comfortable chairs were arranged around the fire, an end table separating each of them. It was a cozy room, one I often sat in for long hours just recharging. I wanted nothing more than to sink into one of the chairs and watch the flames flicker over the dry logs in the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand.
But now was not the time. I could worry about relaxing once I took care of my other problems.
No one was in the room as far as I could tell. I moved across the room to the laundry room door. It was open and it took only a quick glance inside to verify that it, too, was empty. From there, I went to the basement door. I stopped to listen for any sounds that might give an intruder away. Of course, if they were in the second basement with the door closed, I wouldn’t hear a thing.
I listened for a good minute and a half before opening the basement door. It swung open on well-oiled hinges, hardly making a sound. The light was on downstairs, but not a single shadow moved at the base of the stairs. I went down carefully, my gun pointed straight ahead, ready to fire the moment I saw someone who didn’t belong.
As I stepped onto the hard concrete floor, I breathed a sigh of relief. No one was there and everything was still in its place. I still had the entire upstairs and Ethan’s lab to contend with, but seeing the basement empty lifted a heavy weight from my shoulders. It was unlikely someone would be hiding anywhere else in the house.
My tension eased and I dropped the gun to point at the floor, irritated at myself for being so paranoid. No one had ever broken into my house before last night. It had clearly affected me more than I realized.
I moved to the lab door and pressed my ear against the reinforced door. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hear anything but did it anyway. Ethan had done a good job of soundproofing his workshop.
There was an intercom by the door. I hesitated on using it, knowing that if Ethan was at work, he wouldn’t like being interrupted.
Still, I needed to know. It was the only way I could talk to him and make sure he was okay. Of all the doors in the house, Ethan’s lab was the only one to which I didn’t have a key. I couldn’t even knock it in. It was built to resist even the strongest monster from getting inside. A bomb could go off and the damn thing would probably keep standing.
I pressed the Call button and waited for Ethan’s response. I wasn’t sure what he heard when I pressed the button, having never been down there since its installation.
“What?” he said. His voice shook ever so slightly. He sounded almost nervous.
I pressed the Talk button. “Are you okay?”
There was a pause. “Of course,” he said. “I was just busy and you startled me. Is there something you need?”
“No, I’m good.” I smiled and eased my gun back into its holster. “I just wanted to let you know I was home.” I would still need to check the upstairs bedrooms before doing anything else, but I was pretty sure my tension-filled stalk through the house had been entirely unnecessary. I felt pretty silly.
“K,” he said, sounding somewhat relieved. “I’ll be down here a little bit longer.”
“See you later, then.”
He mumbled something else I couldn’t quite make out and the intercom fell silent. I stood there a long moment, contemplating pressing the button again to make sure he really was okay. He hadn’t sounded it.
Instead, I turned and headed back upstairs to finish the rest of my search. While I was sure no one else was in the house, I wanted to check just to be sure. You couldn’t be too careful these days.
It took me only five minutes to finish my search. The only disturbing thing I found was the way Ethan’s room seemed even more tousled than before. One quick look in the bedroom closet assured me that it was Ethan’s usual clutter. It never ceased to amaze me how much of a slob he was in his personal life. It was a stark contrast with his work, which was neat and orderly.
As soon as I finished checking the upstairs, I went down to the dining room table to clean my gun. I hadn’t used it, but it made me feel safer just knowing the thing had been cleaned. If the modified weapon jammed, or God forbid, exploded in my hand, it might be the last thing I ever did.
There were better places in the house to clean the weapon, especially so close to dawn, but I liked it there. It was relaxing in its own way. I stared out into the backyard, wishing the light illuminating the patio was more than just the moonlight. I wished I could stand at that door, look out over the sunlit trees, and bask in the warm sunny glow.
But that was only a pipe dream, one I could never realize. My life revolved around the moon and stars now. In its own way, it had a poetic beauty about it. No one could deny the beauty of the night. But sometimes, it would be nice to trade the darkness for a glimpse of the light.
Of course, I had never been much of a day person, even before becoming a vampire. Both my parents had known life by the day, having lived before the Uprising. They could walk down the street at night without worrying that something might be lurking in the dark recesses of the night, hungry for their blood. Back then, wolves and vamps were just legends, tales told to children to scare them into their beds at night.
My brother, Thomas, had been born before me and had a few years of a normal life, though he wouldn’t have remembered it. His first few years of life had been like any other child’s before him.
But before he was three, the world changed: The vampires rose and took control of the night. Nothing would be the same ever again.
I was born the following year. Born to the dark, some would say. My parents hadn’t wanted me, which I found out one evening by accident. I never blamed them. Who would want to bring a child into a world of nightmares and demons?
But they had me anyway. Maybe they hoped I would have a normal life somehow. Maybe they thought they could protect me from the night. After the initial shock of the Uprising, people moved on with their lives, lived their days as if nothing had happened. Only during the night did they allow the reality of monsters walking the streets next to them affect them.
They had no choice. To forget the nightmares lurking outside was to invite those nightmares into your life. Those who tried to pretend vampires didn’t exist, that werewolves lived only in fairy tales, ended up dead pretty damn quick.
The basement door opened and closed, bringing me out of my thoughts. A moment later, Ethan stepped into the dining room, his face weary.
“I made a few more dust packets,” he said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. I could see traces of silver beneath his fingernails. “You should have told me you were getting low.”
“It slipped my mind,” I said, setting down my gun. “It tends to happen when I come home to find someone stalking through my house.”
Ethan smiled. “I guess it might.” He sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck, wincing. “Well, the knives are done, but the sword will need some more work.” He yawned. “I can finish that tomorrow night. It seems your last run was pretty productive.”
“You could say that,” I said, clenching my fists. The thought of those Purebloods locked in cages brought a surge of anger with it. The worst part of my job was the memories.
Ethan yawned again and leaned against the wall. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he looked far too tired to think straight.
“You should get some sleep,” I said. “I have more than enough weapons to last. You don’t have to kill yourself fixing them. Slow down a bit, relax.”
He smiled and shrugged. “I know. I just like making sure things are done in a timely manner.”
I returned his smile. “Still, I don’t like seeing you so t
ired. Someday, I might need you at your best. You don’t have to sleep during the day. You aren’t restricted to the night like I am.”
“Yeah, but when would we have these little chats?” He laughed. “I like the night just fine. There are fewer distractions when it’s dark.”
I wasn’t so sure about that but nodded anyway. There was something in his eye that said that wasn’t the entire story. He definitely wasn’t telling me something.
He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “You should get some sleep, too,” he said. “It’s been a busy couple of nights.”
“I don’t need to sleep.”
He gave me a look that said, “I already knew that,” as clearly as if he had spoken it. “You know what I mean,” he said. “You’ve got to give your head a rest or you’re going to drive yourself crazy thinking about what you could have done differently, what you should have done, what might have happened. I can almost hear those wheels turning in your head.”
I looked down at my gun. I knew he was right, but it was hard. As long as I kept working on something, even if it was as mundane as cleaning my gun, it helped ease my mind, but it only went so far.
“You’re probably right,” I said, sighing. I pushed away from the table and holstered the gun. “I need to go upstairs anyway. It’ll be light soon.”
“Really?” Ethan said. His eyes drifted toward the door where the night was quickly giving way to day. “I thought we still had a few hours yet until first light.” He yawned. “Maybe that’s why I feel like hell.”
I smiled but didn’t say anything. There was no sense in chastising him about working too hard. It was really all he had left in his life. I definitely knew the feeling.
He started up the stairs but paused halfway up. “What are you going to do about the Cult?” he asked, turning to look back at me. I saw genuine concern on his face.
“I’m going to see what they want,” I said. If nothing else, my night had ensured I had no choice. I couldn’t go on like this, searching the house like a paranoid psychopath every time I came home. “If it’s a trap, I’ll be ready.”
