There were five voices; three male, two females, all vampire. Susan and Brad were immediately identifiable. I didn’t recognize the other three but assumed they had soccer-mom names as well. If there were a Tiffany or three, my surprise would be exactly zero.
“You’re sure that the Great War is here?” a male voice I didn’t recognize asked. “Do you have any idea how many ‘Great Wars’ I’ve seen, kid? Great Wars are human things. They have nothing to do with us unless it means giving us a chance to feast.”
Brad sniffed. “I’m not the one calling it that. If you want to take it up with the Dread Blood, be my guest.”
I heard three sets of shoes shuffle as if people were recoiling. “I’m sure he has his reasons for calling it that,” said a woman with an Eastern European accent. “Nevertheless, we’ll need a reason to stick around for him. You’re beholden to him. We aren’t. We’re not so keen on essentially giving ourselves over on a whim.”
A third male voice spoke next, sounding so bored he might have just risen from a nap. “Remember the time he insisted we all had to unite to fight—what was it? Oh, that’s right. An invasion in the town of Ripton, Massachusetts?”
“Right, except there is no town of Ripton in Massachusetts. It’s a hoax people in the western part of the state played on Boston politicians.” The Eastern European woman chuckled. I almost laughed with her, since my uncle had been in on the hoax. “This is always how it is with him. He latches on to something, people respond because he’s Dread Blood, and then it’s so much ash and mist.”
Susan spoke up. “The Ripton thing was...troubling. There’s no getting around it. But the war is happening. I saw what happened in Owl’s Head. And I went to Virginia, too. The Ferins’ powers are growing. Rumor has it that there are two Ferin with so much control over fire they can write their names on a man’s forehead.”
“We’re vampires, Susan. I know it’s not easy for you to keep up, but do make an effort.” This came from the first strange man. “We heal.”
“Not from all Ferin. And not all of us. How many times did Jameson burn?” Susan cleared her throat. “And he always healed. Until he went up against those three Ferin. I’m not entirely sure what happened because I wasn’t there. All I know is the backup crew heard him screaming from miles away. It took a lot to even make him blink.”
Susan’s words were met with silence. I didn’t move. I didn’t even breathe. Evidently, Jameson was a popular guy here in the hideout. If I got caught, I was toast. Unless I turned them into toast first.
“Okay, so maybe there are some augmented Ferin.” The bored vampire sounded a little more awake now. He’d moved to a different spot in their little coterie, too, maybe a little farther from Susan. “That doesn’t mean the Great War is upon us. That’s just a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“We’re not paid to think.” Brad sounded like he was speaking through clenched teeth. “We’re here to serve and to act. If the Dread Blood says it’s time for the Great War, then it’s time. And from what I’ve seen of this guy, I’d say he’s the real deal.”
Well, shit. If Brad had seen me, my survival chances just dropped considerably.
“What makes you say that, Brad?” I’d say the first vampire stranger probably had about the same feelings about Brad that I did, judging by the sneer in his voice. “Was he from Ripton, too?”
A scuffle ensued, and then someone whistled, a piercing noise in the space around me. “Boys!” the European woman barked. “We aren’t here to fight each other, you childish fucks. Even if we aren’t here to fight the Great War, we’re still here to fight Ferin. We came here under a flag of truce, Jonah. And you know Brad’s an imbecile. Why do you egg him on?”
“Because I came here to fight someone,” Jonah seethed. “It might as well be him.”
I pulled away and slunk back down the corridor as quickly as I dared. The conversation had been illuminating, but not in any good ways. The vampires, at least the those with rank and file, knew about me. They knew about my fire abilities and just how good I’d gotten with them in a short period of time. I’d been hoping I could at least have an element of surprise, but apparently, we weren’t going to be that lucky. They knew who I was, and they knew what I was, and they were ready for me. They also appeared to have anger issues, a lack of emotional control, and names from middle-class America. That meant they were among humans far too often for my taste.
I began my escape, trying not to panic as the walls loomed around me. Abandoned phosphate mines aren’t conducive to reason, and my palms were slick with sweat as I slid from path to path, trying to put ground between the group of vampires and me. I’d had success killing other fangers with ease, but the group I’d been spying on had an air of danger clinging to them that left me sick with worry. I turned again, sweat stinging my eyes as the distance between the vamps and me grew.
It was the wrong turn. I knew it five minutes into my trip down that hall when I came across the body of a young man leaking the last of his blood onto the dry ground of the chamber floor. He hadn’t been dead for long. His body shone with residual warmth, although not enough to indicate any remaining life. Part of his neck had been torn out, and I saw a similar injury near his wrist. Both wounds were raw, angry, and heartless. He’d been killed only moments before.
I knelt to look at him, fighting back my anger. He was young, probably a farm worker, and most likely working under the table. He was invisible, and his family back home would never know what happened. They’d probably think he’d met with any of the myriad horror stories they heard about in the news, instead of the real-life horror story they only read about in ancient legends.
I could admire the vampires’ ruthless brilliance, even as I recoiled from the results. They’d seen a need, and they’d filled that need in a way that wouldn’t raise a single eyebrow with anyone who could cause trouble for them. I hated their cruel efficiency.
I had to get out of here. I had to get back to Tess and Kamila. I still believed I’d been right to come here, but I had to warn my friends. We weren’t dealing with the type of monsters we knew. These vampires were an evil I didn’t think had ever existed in this world before, and they had a source of blood that was limitless. They could feed without fear if I let them. If the Ferin let them.
I bolted for the exit. This time, I knew I was heading in the right direction because I was going up with each frenzied step, but my progress stopped when a fist crashed into my mouth, sending me sprawling.
“Why the hurry, meat?” The female vampire was petite. Her punch was not. “I don’t usually see mice coming to the cat. How convenient.”
She lashed out again, this time with a vicious kick aimed at my knee. I knew what to look for and dodged it with a blur, following with a punch of my own that sent her reeling into the walls.
She bounced off like a pinball and came back at me with her foot snapping forward, the blow aimed at my chest. With a slip, I took the blow even as my own foot struck forward, landing square on her chin with a victorious cracking of bone and teeth.
“I’ll be damned. I can kick high again,” I said. I hadn’t lifted my foot that far in the air since middle school. Being a Ferin was a time machine but without the acne and angst.
She didn’t like being mocked and redoubled her efforts to connect with any part of my body. When her hands closed on my head, I braced for impact. “You thought you could come in here and take a little look-see, is that it? You thought we just wouldn’t notice? I don’t even need to call for backup, you arrogant fuck. I’m going to break every bone in your body, and then I’m going to eat your heart.”
I dislocated her jaw with one hand, then followed with a savage punch to the hip that chipped bone under the power of my blow. I knew it wasn’t enough to take her out, but it shut her up while her bones knit, and she tried to regain her balance. My head throbbed from the power of her grip, and recovery occupied my next seconds as the haze of pain began to fade under my Ferin ability.<
br />
I didn’t have a few seconds. She slammed my head into the wall again and then again, stars filling my vision in flashes of naked brilliance “Did you think one of us would bring you around and convert you?” Long claws grew from her fingernails, and she prepared to finish me off with a straight-fingered punch to my soft palate. “Wishful. And fatal,” she added.
Her hand drew back, the talons gleaming in my sight. I staggered under another impact against the wall.
Death was coming, and I could do nothing to stop it.
34
My bone cracked under the force of the vampire’s attack. I grunted and kicked up at her, but I couldn’t stop her. It was the end.
Something hit the vampire with enough force to send her teeth raining down in an ivory chatter. Blood and bone flew from the side of her ruined mouth as another strike—this time from a foot—connected with her face, collapsing an eye socket with a hideous crunch. She spun around, only to go staggering backward under a punch that knocked the fanger into the wall with a wet thud.
My ally was a bright spot of life in my night vision, white hot with living fury. I recognized Tess after she threw the vampire over my prone body. The vampire didn’t fall, gaining her footing after a graceful roll that ended with a sweeping kick backwards The blow landed on Tess, forcing her to one knee from the impact
Tess wasn’t about to let a little bit of pain stop her. She stabbed the vampire in the knee with her silver-tipped spike, and the vampire wailed in high-pitched anger cut short by my forearm around her neck.
“A little fire would be really useful right now, dumbass,” Tess said, jumping to her feet.
I had no idea if there were any gasses in this place to ignite, but I understood the need for a swift, silent end to our attacker. I ignited the vampire’s stolen blood, boiling her from the inside out in a welter of heat that bloomed in my vision like a supernova. The fanger blew apart in a rustle of ash, and she was gone.
Tess and I stood in silence for a long moment—messy, filthy silence. I had to be glad we couldn’t see the grime because based on the smell, we looked like corpses who’d rolled in roadkill. We would be ringing the dinner bell on the way back to camp, and I had no way of getting clean that didn’t involve a long soak in a cold lake.
Tess slapped my face before spreading the ashes with her foot. “The next time I tell you not to do something, you shut up and follow orders. Am I clear, or do I need to tattoo it on your arm?”
I rubbed my jaw. Tess’s slap hadn’t been gentle. “That hurt.”
“Good. You know what hurts more? Getting yourself killed. Which almost happened. It would have happened if I hadn’t shown up and saved your sorry ass.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You understand that, right? I’m not standing here speaking Latin at you?”
“I understand what you’re saying, but the fact is, I didn’t get myself killed. Yes, it was a near thing, but no, it didn’t happen. And if either of you had the slightest interest in checking this place out with me, I wouldn’t have had to risk coming here alone. It’s not like I was subtle about my intentions. You know why I came here.” I took a deep breath and tried to steady my stance.
“Toxic masculinity and the utter impossibility of admitting you were wrong?” She started walking toward the exit.
“Actually, no. I came here because we needed information. Which, for the record, I obtained, but your bullshit pride will stop you from admitting I’m right. Any information I might have gotten is irretrievably tainted by the fact that I’m the one who got it, right?”
“If that’s the way you want to see it, then so be it. No information is worth you getting your fool self killed for, Jason. Now come on, before her friends come looking for her.”
“They were talking about the war. I’m sure you’re an experienced enough general that you don’t need to know what they said or what kind of divisions they have in their ranks.” I watched her pretty face carefully. “You’d have no interest in how they’re sustaining a vampire population in a town of less than sixty thousand residents either.”
She looked up at the cavern roof. “You’re really starting to piss me off.”
“Why are you even here, Tess? Why not just let me learn my lesson?” I stepped a little closer to her.
“Because even though you’re a stubborn ass who can’t be bothered to listen to women, I don’t want you to die.” She turned partly away from me. “I came outside to talk to you and try to smooth things over. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where you’d gone.”
I smirked. I hadn’t been subtle. I hadn’t even been trying to be subtle. “I guess I should be upset about being so easy to read, but right now, I don’t care. Look. You’re here now, and there are two of us. I’ve already found out some information. Together, we can have each other’s backs as we try to get more. Why don’t we do a little more exploring and see what we can find, hm?”
She gaped at me, mouth a little circle of heat in her face. “You’re must be high.”
I chuckled. “I’m not high. We need something, and this is the place to find it. Why wouldn’t we take the opportunity while it’s here? We’re not going to get the chance again. I’m not saying we should go fight them or take them on right now; all I’m saying is we should nose around a little and see what we can see.”
She growled. “We need to get more people to help. They can’t have killed every Ferin in the world. We both know this. You don’t fight a war with three people, or even just two.”
“No, but you don’t do recon with a full army, either.” I held my breath. If she kept refusing and made a scene, we’d have to leave.
“Fine,” she spat at last. “I think it’s a shitty idea, but you’ll do it anyway, and I’d rather be here to watch your back than sit around waiting for you to come home.”
Home. Did I have a home with her and Kamila? I wanted that to be home. It certainly felt more natural than locked up in isolation at Owl’s Head. “Let’s do it, then.”
We crept back out into the hallway and headed down the corridor. A few minutes into the journey brought us to a shaft with a terrible stench so foul I knew we were close to the vampire’s trash heap. A glance into the pit confirmed my suspicions. The vampires were throwing their victims into this pit when they were done with them, the pale bodies broken and open in violation.
We both left the room with no shame, my own stomach tight with revulsion at what I’d seen. I couldn’t imagine waking up as Ferin in that hellish pile of corrupted flesh, and at that moment, I knew some fates were worse than death.
We came to another room, this one piled high with clothes and cash, organized in tidy piles like a well-run criminal venture. The clothes were in all styles and colors, meaning the vampires altered their appearance to fit in when necessary. If they knew about the three of us, if they knew about me, their infiltration into human society must have been seamless. The cash, too, would go a long way.
I reached out and stuffed my pockets. Tess stared at me. “Is now the time?” she whispered.
“What, we’re going to come back for it?” I didn’t stop stealing as I spoke. I couldn’t see the denominations of the bills as I crammed them into every pocket I could, but I didn’t care. Even ones would be more than I had.
“You wouldn’t rob the people back in Maine more than you absolutely had to,” she hissed.
“Those were normal people who didn’t do anything to us first. These are fucking vampires.” I smiled and glanced around for anything else portable. Apparently, Tess saw the wisdom of my decision because she, too, took all the cash she could grab. We moved on, heavier with money but vaguely disgusted. That was the way of vampires. Everything they did was almost human until it wasn’t. Then, it was just grotesque.
As we looked around, I realized that vampires didn’t need a lot of stuff. They wore clothes because they were once human, and they needed to blend in on occasion. Their food was generally on the hoof, so to speak, and didn’t
get stockpiled. We did find a supply of blood bags on ice, so they could drink stored blood, but I wasn’t sure it was something they liked to do. It had the feel of necessity more than preference.
Otherwise, the safe house mostly seemed to consist of living space. We saw sitting rooms and lounges set up in the strangest places, and all of them had been decorated in different styles. One had been set up in the style of Versailles. Another looked more like something from the Federal Period. Still, another looked downright medieval, and one more looked ancient Egyptian. In that room, there were various carvings of gods, all vicious and primal.
When Tess exclaimed at the oddity of the decorating patterns, I hummed. “It actually jives with what I heard from the fangs. They’d been called in by someone they called the Dread Blood, or just Dread Blood. He holds power over them—or maybe a spell, I’m not sure—and gets to call them in, but none of them seemed to take him seriously. If he’s accommodating different groups from different areas, that would make sense. He’d want them to feel as comfortable as they could.”
Tess’s face lost some of its heat when I mentioned the words Dread Blood. That gave me cause for concern, but I didn’t ask her about it yet. This wasn’t the time or place. Right now, I needed to worry about getting out of this tunnel alive. I could grill her later when we would lay our cards on the table, or I would walk away. My patience was done. The war, however, was not.
Part of me wanted to keep going. This labyrinth went on for what felt like miles, and we could probably spend the next year poking into every nook and cranny, but time was not our friend. If I wasn’t mistaken, the sun was either up or close to it on the surface. The vampires would be back underground soon, and it would be a lot harder for us to get out of the mine intact.
Forever Young Page 20
