Hollowed (Half Light)

by Kelley York

  Not very gracefully, at that. My legs trip over one another and I end up tangled in a heap at Noah's feet, while he continues firing shots across the room. Shots that aren't slowing Joel down, and the second Noah has to hesitate to reload, I heft up my gun and take aim. Trying to do it from the floor? Not working so hot. My first shot falls too far left and the second barely nicks his shoulder. By the time Noah has reloaded, Joel is almost on us.

  I roll to one side to avoid a kick to the face while Joel lunges for Noah, blade-tip inches from his cheek. He flips backward, slamming a heavy boot into Joel's face, jaw giving a messy crunch like cereal. Joel rears back only for a second. Noah is barely flat on his feet again. Joel swings a leg out, sweeping Noah's legs out from under him. When he lands, a pained, clipped cry escapes his mouth. Not a good sign.

  While Joel is stationary, I take the chance to fire off a shot. This one takes him right between his shoulder-blades. Makes him pause. Draws his attention off of Noah and onto me as he slowly turns around.

  And I'm clicking on empty. I don't have time to reload. Shit shit shit.

  There's a cold burn across my stomach, part dread, part terror, part physical pain. I spin around and run, already knowing I won't get far, knowing he's faster and stronger and this might be it.

  A heavy hand clamps onto my shoulder. I squeeze my eyes shut. Noah's gun goes off and the grip goes slack and falls away, leaving me stumbling forward a few steps and twisting around to see what happened. Why this one shot out of all the bullets we've put into him so far made him stop.

  Joel staggers to a halt, swaying. When he turns to face Noah, I see where the bullet entered at the base of his skull. One fine, round little hole. Noah leans against a support beam, nursing his left leg, but the gun is down like he knows he doesn't need it anymore.

  "You really think that knife is the only weapon I have effective against vampires?" A wry smile twists at his mouth. "Bullets can carry spells, too."

  "You..." Joel reaches back, fingers shaking as he touches where his hair is matted and thick with blood and sweat and dirt. He whirls around then, laughing around his broken jaw and bloodied teeth. Swaggers across the warehouse like nothing happened, arms swinging, steps wide.

  Halfway to the door, he staggers, and then he's down.

  I can't bring myself to move or breathe, waiting for him to get back up again. Noah limps over, shoving a boot into Joel's shoulder and rolling him onto his back. His eyes stare straight up at the ceiling beyond us, glassy and vacant. Like any other corpse in the world. He was never a vampire, never special.

  I don't know yet if I feel sorry for his death. Should I feel sorry? All I can think of is Sherry and Ruby. Of the people we left to fight Oliver and Fred...people who will never return home, who will never see their families again. People who won't even get to enjoy their lives as vampires because Joel ruined their chance. And if Joel hadn't thrown me from that roof? I never would have attacked John in the alley.

  No. I don't think I feel sorry at all.

  "Why didn't you use that bullet earlier?" I ask.

  "It was the only one I had," he murmurs. "They're nearly impossible to get ahold of. I was saving it."

  He means Ruby. That bullet was meant for Ruby. So why use it now? To save me?

  Noah crouches beside Joel's body while I turn away. When I look down, I see the barely visible tear in my shirt, and the skin of my abdomen beneath.

  Joel got me. Not much, but he got me.

  It feels like nothing. A scratch, at most. But I know the blade barely nicked my skin, a centimeter at most, and it has to be a good inch-long now. Is the dizziness because of the wound, or because I can't stop thinking back to Alex and her gaping throat and Artie's rotting chest? I'm afraid to touch it in case it can somehow spread by doing so.

  And I don't want Noah to see it. Not yet.

  "Briar?"

  I ignore him and head outside. The door spills me into the empty streets surrounded by mostly deserted buildings. No streetlights here, but I know instantly where we are. I've walked down this road a hundred times, past at the bakery where I thought my sister was murdered. Where I suspect she might still be. Where Joel may have already killed her.

  Noah follows, but his steps are slowed by his injured leg and I don't respond to him yelling my name. The slice across my belly has gone from mildly uncomfortable to sizzling hot, stretching all the way through my pelvic bone and the base of my spine. Like hell if I'm going to look down and see how bad the damage is getting.

  If I only have minutes to live, I'm going to spend them doing what I came to do: I'm going to save my sister.

  The painted header that used to read Cakes and Things has faded to become into Cake Thi s. Before Ruby's disappearance, anyone could sneak inside. After the cops were done with it, though, it was sealed up tight. I'm reminded of this as my fingers are rubbed raw trying to pry boards off the front window.

  I brace myself, put my weight into it, and pull. Pain rips through my body, originating from my wound, making me tremble, but the boards creak and then give, nearly sending me toppling back when they finally break free. There's no glass to contend with, so I'm able to crawl right in just as Noah is crossing the street.

  "Briar!"

  My legs almost buckle when I hit the floor inside. Still I refuse to look down, because I can feel it getting worse and if I see it, I know I'll completely lose it and won't be able to move another step.

  As soon as I'm inside, I see her.

  Ruby, slouched in the corner on a pile of tattered and stained sheets. Not a bite mark on her, but there are dark, crusted patches of blood on her neck, shoulders, arms, where so many mouths have fed from her. Her limbs are thin, her face hollow, smatterings of darkness beneath her eyes. I only saw her two days ago, but she looks as though she's been starved for weeks.

  At first all I can do is stand there and stare, terrified to move because I don't even know if she's alive or dead. When I force myself to take another step forward, she twitches, and slowly her eyes slit open. The air washes out of my lungs, leaving me feeling both relieved and utterly exhausted.

  "Ruby..."

  Noah clambers in behind me, hissing when he puts weight on his leg just as I'm dropping to Ruby's side and yanking the gag out of her mouth. The chains around her wrists and ankles, though...I can't do anything for those.

  "How did you..." Ruby rasps, staring up at me. Her eyes drop slowly, presumably on my stomach, and her face blanches.

  Before I can answer, Noah yanks me back from my sister and twists me around. His jaw clenches. "He did get you. If you'll hold still, I can try to fix it." Although the downturn of his mouth and the crease between his brows makes me wonder if it really is fixable.

  I'm getting too tired to argue anyway. His voice, Ruby's voice, they're both beginning to sound watery and far away. The biting pain has nibbled its way up into my chest, shoulders, throat. I can't stand it. If it can't be fixed, I'd rather they put me out of my misery now.

  But as Noah fumbles around in his jacket for something, paper and a marker, I think, but I can't find it in me to pay to what he's doing. I try to keep calm and focus on him. The line of his jaw, the way he's mouthing something as he presses a hand to my abdomen. For a few moments, the only thing that exists in this world is Noah, worrying about me, wanting to help me.

  The cooling sensation creeping into my body is like nothing I've ever felt. Every inch of me tingles, like fingertips ghosting along my skin. I lean toward Noah as though I might soak up more. Because that's what this feeling is, isn't it? His magic? Washing around me, inside me, through my lungs and my bones to the very tips of my fingers and toes. A cold rain on a blistering summer day.

  There's no pain anymore, I realize. When he pulls his hand away, he's drawn out the fire with it. The slip of paper with its weird little symbol crumbles to ash in his fingers. Still his eyes are fixated on my stomach and as the world begins to sharpen around me again, I finally dare to look down. The wound the
re isn't black and rotting. It's raw and red like any injury, but it's healing.

  When there's skin there to touch again, I run my fingers over it, marveling. My eyes lift, meeting his. "Thank you..."

  Noah gives me a weak grin and straightens up. Ruby hasn't said a word, but she's watching us. I instantly feel guilty for basking in the fresh calm Noah's magic brushed over me while she's still bound and undoubtedly in serious need of food. We have to get her out of here and find the boys, make sure they're okay.

  "Noah," I say. "The chains, can you—"

  He hesitates, then drops down to Ruby's side. She watches him every step of the way, like she expects him to put a bullet in her head. I guess I don't blame her. I'm halfway expecting it, too.

  But Noah only takes the felt-tip marker in his hand, another slip of paper, another symbol I can't for the life of me make out. He places it against the cuff around one of Ruby's wrists. The metal links glimmer, burning a bright red before completely crumbling and falling away from Ruby. She cringes from him the moment she's able, pushing herself up to sitting.

  I want to run to her and gather her up. Hug her and cry and tell her it's all over and things will be okay now. Whatever anger I feel at anything she's done—if what Joel told me is true—I can't bring myself to care right now. Isn't what's important that we're here now? I'm so sick and tired of being angry and upset.

  Except there is still Noah, and he's standing between us. He pulls the gun from its holster again. Even as he's pointing it at Ruby, I throw myself at him, hands fisting in his shirt. "Noah, stop it! She can hardly move!"

  "Doesn't make her any less dangerous," Noah says. He jerks his chin toward my sister. "Truth time, Ruby. Now that Joel's dead, no more blaming him for things, so why don't you come clean."

  Ruby gets to her feet, but not without difficulty. She's silent. Looking at Noah, at the gun in her face, at me, and back again, like she's trying to piece together some intricate puzzle and just can't make sense of it. More than that, she looks...hurt.

  "Why did you save her, Noah?"

  Of all the things my sister could ask, that catches me the most off-guard. Noah doesn't look the least bit surprised and there's no remorse in his voice when he says, "Because she isn't like you."

  I don't have time to reflect on that, or on the anger that shutters across Ruby's face. "Both of you, please! Let's get out of here and find the boys. There's time for all this later. "

  Noah's mouth twists uncertainly, but he looks ready to give in. Maybe because we're both exhausted or maybe because, on some level, he's worried about Oliver and Fred, too.

  But the second he lowers the gun, Ruby attacks.

  I don't understand what I'm seeing. Not until I realize Ruby has her teeth in Noah's throat, her hands in his hair in such a manner that if he twists the wrong way, she's going to break his neck.

  "Stop it, you'll kill him!" It's all I can think to say. I can't do anything, because I don't know what to do that won't result in her ending his life right then and there. As though standing there stupidly somehow increases his chances of survival.

  But before long, Ruby tears her head back and Noah is discarded like a rag-doll, thrown away where he slams into the front counter and slumps to the ground. Not dead, but grasping at his throat, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. Now Ruby is the one with the gun, and it's pointed right at him.

  She is so much thinner than I remember. The angles of her shoulders and hips are no longer smooth, but angular and sharp. The dark shadows painted beneath her eyes emphasize how much of their luster and liveliness they've lost. She's a walking corpse; it makes her hard to look at. Now with all of Noah's blood on her face and hands, she's a monster.

  "What the hell are you doing, Ruby?" I was so convinced if we could just get the truth out of her, if she and Noah talked, everything would be fine. But I don't recognize the girl I'm staring at now, and a deeper part of me trembles and wonders if this is the Ruby that Noah was talking about.

  She rolls her shoulders back, twists her head from side to side, eliciting sharp pops from her neck. "Poor, scared little Briar. Always everybody's baby. Always the special one." Her bare feet shuffle against the warped linoleum slowly but purposefully toward me.

  I don't want to step back, but I don't want her to come close. Would my own sister hurt me? I thought I knew the answer to that. I thought if there was anything in the world I could be sure of, it was that one thing. That Ruby loved me, and she would always protect me. Sparing a glance at Noah, I see him still on the ground, blood all around him.

  Stay down, Noah. Stay down. I can't stomach seeing Ruby shoot him to top it all off.

  "You're upset," I say, trying to soothe her. "Joel almost killed you, and you're half-starved. Let's go get you a meal and we'll sit down and talk—"

  "I am so through talking to you," she snarls, something so guttural and inhuman that it makes me shudder. "I'm so through with all of this."

  "We're sisters. Ruby, you're a good person. You were always—"

  She slams a fist against the wall, the plaster crumbling and cracking. "Stop acting like you know me!"

  How she can muster that kind of strength right now, I don't know. Unless—getting a taste of Noah's witch blood has her on some kind of high. Not a good thing.

  For every step forward she takes, I take a step back. Away from her hard, icy stare and toward the window until my back hits the pane. Shy of ditching Noah and running away, there's nowhere for me to go. And there is no way in hell I'm leaving him behind. My fingers grip the sill, digging in for some sort of balance. Something to support me because nothing else in this room is making a hell of a lot of sense right now. I take a deep breath.

  "All right. What don't I know? Was Joel right when he told me you begged for him to turn you?"

  "Oh, Briar. You have no idea what it was like for me." Her mouth twists from a sneer to an almost-pout, perhaps regretful that, after all this, her secret has been exposed. "Mom and Dad, my teachers, the entire family...everyone was always pushing me. Do better, Ruby. You're smarter than that. Everyone's counting on you. Don't disappoint us." She turns her head and spits on the floor like the words leave a bad taste in her mouth.

  "And I did it, because I hated letting anyone down. I gave up any semblance of a normal life, of going out with friends and having real boyfriends all because of what our parents wanted."

  "You had friends," I whisper. "And boyfriends. You were always telling me about them."

  She looks torn between wanting to laugh and feeling sorry for me. "You believed me? When did you ever see me go out with anyone? The only time anyone saw the inside of our home was for homework assignments, and the only boyfriend I've ever had was Noah. Why else would I keep him such a secret? If anyone knew, they would've taken him away."

  I try to think back. I try to remember any of Ruby's friends. Their names or faces...any of her boyfriends. Nothing comes to mind. She's right. All I have are the stories she told me while I listened with wide eyes and excitement about what high school would someday mean for me.

  My eyes squeeze shut while my brain tries to process all this information and remain calm. "Why did you lie to me?"

  "Please. I was telling you what you wanted to hear." She scowls. "You were the normal one, after all. You could do anything and fail miserably, and all you ever got was a pat on the head and told it was fine so long as you tried your best. If I couldn't have a normal teenager's life, then I wanted to pretend with someone. Even if that someone was my stupid little sister."

  I can't wrap my head around the idea that Ruby ever thought of me like that. Did the lies really start so early on between us? Was there any truth to the sisters we used to be?

  Ruby casts a glance to Noah, smiling. "Then I met him. All I wanted was for us to run away together, start a new life where I could be included in this amazing world he was a part of." There, her expression darkens again. "But he didn't think I was good enough. So I found a vampire who was willi
ng to turn me, just to prove I was good enough. I was strong enough. I was willing to do whatever it took to create a new future for myself."

  "Then you turned your back on the vampires that took you in."

  She's too close to me now. If she reaches out she can touch me, but she doesn't. Noah is quietly trying to pull himself to his feet. I can't tell if he's as pale as I think he is, or if it's the light playing tricks on my eyes.

  "You've met Joel. Would you want anything to do with him? Too many rules, and I became a vampire to get away from rules. So I left." She shrugs. "Isn't my fault Mav's baby brother got in the way."

  "Kill or be killed, right?" I say, remembering what she told me that night at the café. How stupid was I? The Ruby I knew never would have dismissed anyone's death like that, even if it was unavoidable.

  "Exactly."

  "Don't let her think he was the first and last, Ruby." Noah's voice wavers. "What about the girl I watched you murder the night I found out you were turned? Or the ones you killed when I broke up with you? That wasn't self-defense. It was cold-blooded murder, just to get revenge on me."

  From across the room, his eyes meet mine and, for the first time, I'm distinctly aware of how much Noah really did care about Ruby back then, and how desperately he wanted to protect her. How much it must have hurt him to watch her spiral so out of control.

  "They weren't the only ones, either. Some of the deaths pinned on Joel within the last few weeks were yours. Don't think I don't have my ways of figuring it out."

  "Shut up, Noah." Her eyes narrow. For a long moment she says nothing, making my insides quiver with the weight of silence and the hope that she'll tell me none of it is true. She reaches her free hand out and her cold and bony fingers brush my cheek. "I came back to this miserable city because I wanted to see you again. My baby sister. Because the idea that you nearly died, discarded by the river like trash, broke my heart. Because as much as I resented you, I loved you. But you just wouldn't leave with me, would you? Even after you nearly died in that alley. Even when Mom and Dad were out of the picture, would you have left if I came for you?"