Taos cursed and kicked at the debris around his feet.
Suhail began to pace in a tight circle. “We should leave right now, Shufah.”
“What’s wrong?” Jerusa asked, but no one answered her.
Shufah drew closer to her brother. “And where shall we go?”
“I don’t know,” he said, running his fingers though his thick black hair. “Maybe we can go to the Stewards. Plead our case. If we turn over the fledgling and the mortal — ” He stopped as if suddenly aware that Jerusa and Thad were still in the room.
“Give their lives in exchange for our own?” she asked with a hint of reproach.
“What choice do we have? By now, the Watchtower will know. And if they know, the Stewards know. The Hunters could arrive tomorrow night, the night after that at the latest. And you know, as well as I, what measure of mercy the Hunters will show us.”
“Watchtower? What is that?” Again no one answered Jerusa.
“I say we kill them now,” Taos said.
Foster stepped forward. “No. It’s foolishness to think the Stewards will grant you leniency just because you lay Jerusa and Thad at their feet.”
“Perhaps if we add you to the offering,” Taos fired back.
“We could run,” Suhail suggested. “We could seek shelter in one of the covens.”
“No,” Shufah countered. “The smaller covens can grant us no safety and the larger covens owe allegiance to the Stewards.”
Suhail threw his hands in the air. “What about the Zealots?”
“Those insane mortals,” Taos said, his face twisting as though he had tasted something bitter. “Their collective mind has degenerated beyond collaboration. They would confine us, starve us. Worship at our feet until the gray sleep overtook us.”
Jerusa’s mind was spinning as she tried to keep track of the conversation. Too many names and titles and vampire colloquialisms were firing back and forth. It was worse than trying to decipher a foreign language. They were speaking English, she understood the words they used, but she could glean little understanding of what they were saying. She glanced at Thad. His face had the lightest touch of green to his complexion and he seemed on the verge of vomiting.
I’ll bet you regret coming back now, Jerusa thought.
“We can’t stay here,” Suhail said. “Even if the Hunters don’t arrive soon, how long until Kole starts stalking us?”
“That won’t happen,” Taos said. “He’ll stay with the easy prey, the mortals.”
“Don’t be so certain,” said Suhail. “He will have regenerated by now, grown smarter. We don’t know what one his age will do.”
Jerusa had had enough. She slammed her fist down onto the countertop, accidentally cracking the granite as she screamed, “Hey! Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
All eyes turned to Shufah as though she alone held the key to this arcane knowledge.
“Kole has made his first kill as a savage,” Shufah said. Her voice was even and clear. “We had hoped the storm last night would have prevented that, but fortune was not on our side.”
“I don’t understand.”
Shufah looked about the kitchen, then went to the sink, where she found a discarded steak knife. She walked in slow, precise steps over to Jerusa, and with a movement too fast to detect, she slashed the knife across Jerusa’s bare forearm.
Jerusa tried to recoil in terror, but Shufah caught her by the wrist of her injured arm.
“Look at the wound,” she commanded.
Jerusa looked down at the deep gash in her forearm and watched, in amazement, as the wound pulled itself closed. The blood reabsorbed into her skin and there was no mark at all to indicate she had been cut.
“The vampire spirit brings many gifts,” Shufah said. “One of which is accelerated healing. When a vampire goes savage, much is lost. Kole no longer recognizes who or what he is. The savage only knows to feed and survive. With much of the savage’s energy going to those two goals, they no longer can heal without the aid of added tissue. The reason that the victim Thad spoke of has a hole in his chest is because Kole had a hole in his chest. I say had because now that he has found replacement tissue, he will have regenerated.”
Jerusa’s stomach rolled at the thought. “But Kole didn’t have a head wound. Why did he eat the man’s head?”
“Even when no other tissue is needed, the savage will devour the brains of its victims. It’s unknown why they do this. Some speculate that if a savage can consume enough brain tissue it will cast off its brutish ways and regain a conscious mind.” Shufah shrugged. “But who is to say? No savage, in three millennia, has lived long enough to test the theory. The Hunters see to that.”
“Who are the Hunters?” Thad asked.
Shufah seemed to grow impatient with this conversation, or perhaps she didn’t like speaking of these things. She looked to each of them, stopping on Foster. He flashed her a warm and understanding smile, then tilted his head, indicating that he thought she should go on.
“The vampire spirit is not the same for all of us,” Shufah said. “The Stewards — the ruling body of old and powerful vampires — have long gathered those with special talents to use for their purpose. The Watchtower is a group of powerful vampires that have the gift of vision, able to peer over vast distances and track the movement of other vampires.
“Other vampires are gifted with extreme pyro-kinesis or telekinesis. They are trained to work in elite teams to track down and destroy not only savages, but infected humans or any vampire that dare to oppose the Stewards’ rule. They are known as the Hunters. There are other gifts a vampire might possess, but most are rare or remain hidden. It is not in a vampire’s interest to go touting a special talent if she wishes to remain free of the Stewards.”
Jerusa saw something glint in Shufah’s eyes, almost like an internal wink. It was obvious that there was a buried warning in her phrase “if she wishes to remain free,” but whether Shufah was indicating Jerusa or herself she couldn’t say. Did she know about Alicia? Jerusa had never considered that Foster had spoken of her and her ghost partner to Shufah.
“So you think that these Watchtower vampires know that Kole has gone savage,” Thad said, more to himself than the group. “And that the Stewards will send the Hunters to kill him. Why is that a bad thing?”
“Because, you small minded mortal,” Taos said, “Kole won’t be the Hunters’ only target. The Stewards will seek to make an example so that others do not create such a blunder.” He turned his pale blue eyes upon Jerusa. “Your enigmatic friend, this Silvanus, has caused us all a great deal of trouble. He did not save your life, but only prolonged your death, and condemned the rest of us to burn, as well.”
Jerusa wanted to explain, to make up an excuse, to apologize, but she couldn’t press a single word past the knot in her throat. Silvanus had killed Kole to save her. Both Silvanus and Foster had warned her. Had she only stayed at home last night, none of this would be happening. They were all going to die and it was every bit her fault. Jerusa turned her back on the group, unable to look into their faces.
“Is there nothing that can be done?” Foster asked Shufah.
“If we were somehow able to find Kole and destroy him before the Hunters arrive, perhaps the Stewards would show us mercy.”
“A wonderful thought, sister,” Suhail said with a derisive laugh, “but impossible. Even if we had the means to destroy Kole, we have no way of locating him.”
Jerusa turned to face the group. “I can find him.”
“And just how will you manage that?” Taos asked.
Jerusa looked at Foster, his eyes warning her to be silent.
“Alicia,” Jerusa said. “She can lead us to Kole.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Alicia?” Suhail asked. He straightened his stance, intrigued by this turn in the conversation. “Who is Alicia, and how can she help us find Kole?”
Jerusa started to answer, but Foster stepped in front of her.
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br /> “Don’t.” His eyes were wide with fright. “You heard what Shufah said about special gifts.”
“I heard,” Jerusa said. “But what other choice do we have? Alicia can help us find Kole. We can fix this.”
“And you can still see Alicia?” Shufah asked. So Foster had told his love about Alicia. Her young, beautiful face was furrowed in a way that was either disbelief or deep sorrow. Perhaps both. “You can still communicate with her?”
Jerusa looked about the room. Foster stood before her, Shufah off to the left. Thad remained in the corner, his eyes shifting quickly from one to the other. Suhail leaned against the kitchen sink with his hand to his chin, as if pondering a great mystery. Taos stood against the far wall, his arms crossed over his chest, watching her as an owl watches its prey scurry around in the underbrush.
But Alicia was not there.
“Alicia,” Jerusa called. “Where are you? I need you.”
The group traded uncertain glances, but remained silent.
“Alicia, don’t hide. Not now. This is important.”
No ghosts appeared in the room.
“Alicia,” Jerusa shouted. “I know you’re still there. Stop messing around. This is serious.”
Alicia materialized in the center of the room. All was as it had been. The girl’s blue prom dress still shimmered in the light. Her hair was still pulled up tight, with loose curls drifting down around her long neck. She still wore no shoes. Still held that air of silent mystery in her big, round eyes. However, for all of that, Alicia was not the same. Jerusa didn’t know what it was, but she could feel that something had changed.
Jerusa sighed, feeling a level of relief she hadn’t thought possible. Until Alicia appeared, Jerusa hadn’t realized just how frightened she’d been that the ghost wouldn’t return. “She’s here,” Jerusa announced to the group.
Shufah tilted her head and made an impressed noise. “Interesting. I’ve never known this power to continue once the vampire spirit has taken hold. Can you see others or just Alicia?”
“There have always been others,” Jerusa answered. “But Alicia is the only one I see right now.” She was about to say more when she noticed what was different about the ghost.
Alicia’s skin was as pale and pristine as porcelain except for her lips, which were slightly red, as though she were wearing lipstick. Her eyes seemed to glow, though they produced no light, and seemed to catch and magnify every color reflected in them.
They all noticed Jerusa’s pause, but only Foster spoke up.
“What is it?”
“Alicia,” Jerusa said. “She’s changed. She looks like a vampire.”
“What is she talking about?” Taos asked, his wide eyes fixed on Jerusa as though she was something disgusting under his shoe.
“Jerusa is a medium,” Shufah said. She spoke with total conviction of her words, as though she could see Alicia herself. “She can see and communicate with spirits.”
“I can see her, but I can’t hear her,” Jerusa clarified. “We have our own system of signals, but sometimes it’s hard to understand what Alicia wants to say.”
“And Alicia is a ghost?” Taos asked.
Jerusa nodded yes.
“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Thad said from his corner. His voice was soft and distant, but his words felt like a slap to Jerusa nonetheless.
She turned toward him so fast that he flinched back in horror. “What about vampires and flesh-eating zombies, huh? Do you believe in them? Cause I sure don’t, but here we are.”
Thad’s face screwed into a contrite little pucker and he fumbled nervously with his hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean — ”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jerusa cut him off. She turned away as though she were still hurt, but the truth was, she couldn’t look at Thad this way, all cowered in the corner like an abused animal. It wasn’t that she pitied him for his fear or that she despised him for his weakness. Far from it. She actually thought him quite brave for coming back to the house knowing what was slumbering in the basement. It was his scent, the smell of human flesh and blood. It was the sound of his heart pumping beneath his breastplate. The sight of sweat beading on his brow. And yes, his fear. She didn’t pity him — no, not at all. She desired him, longed for him in a way she had never known, like the way a cat yearns to stalk the wounded bird. And it sickened her.
Jerusa closed her eyes, forcing those alien emotions down into the darkest prisons of her heart. When she opened her eyes, the other vampires watched her patiently — except for Taos — their eyes filled with understanding of what she was going through.
Shufah approached Jerusa and looked long into her eyes. She ran her thumb over Jerusa’s lips. Then she turned and did the same to Foster.
“It will pass,” Shufah said to Jerusa. “You do not need to feed. You’re just adjusting to your new heightened senses. Foster, however, will need to feed soon.”
Jerusa looked at Foster and for the first time, noticed the tiny ring of red surrounding the irises of his eyes. His lips, too, looked a shade redder than they had earlier. That is what Shufah had been checking her for. Jerusa suddenly wanted to rush into the bathroom and see if she, too, bore those marks. She knew she didn’t, though. They were signs that a vampire needed to feed and Jerusa didn’t feel the slightest thirst for blood or anything else. Something about that seemed to disturb the other vampires. Jerusa could read it in their eyes. She started to ask why, but decided against it. Much about her seemed to perplex the others. Once again, she was different than the rest of the group. Once again, she was the outcast.
Taos pushed away from the wall, kicking at more debris. “Will someone please explain to me how this fledgling and her little ghost friend are going to get us out of this situation?”
Shufah indicated to Jerusa that she should explain.
“Alicia is very good at finding things,” she said. Her voice felt wispy and unsure in her own ears. “She seems to see things the living cannot. I think she can lead us to Kole.”
Alicia’s mouth tightened in disapproval and she folded her arms across her chest. That wasn’t a good sign.
Taos rolled his eyes. “Great. And what do we do with him once we find him?”
“We kill him,” Shufah said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Suhail shuffled forward. “Don’t be mad. We are not Hunters. Even if this girl can lead us to Kole, we lack the skills to destroy him.”
“We are not as defenseless as you imagine, brother.” Shufah looked about. “There are five of us, each strong and fast. But Taos here possess the touch of fire.”
For once, Taos seemed uncomfortable to be the center of attention.
“You’re a pyro-kinetic?” Jerusa asked.
“I can conjure fire,” Taos admitted, “but no more than a flicker. I am not a Hunter.”
Shufah ignored Taos’s self-pity. “With the right conditions, a tiny spark may be all the fire we need.”
Suhail was pacing again. “But Kole isn’t your average savage, one rising from the death of a fledgling. Kole is centuries old and blood-hardened. Even the Hunters would have trouble with a savage of that power. At best, he will kill us all. At worst, we will escape with a bite and become savages ourselves.”
“And if we don’t try,” Shufah said, embracing her brother, “then the Stewards will kill us anyway. And I, for one, would rather perish at the hands of Kole in battle than allow those tyrannical cowards to exterminate us like vermin.”
Shufah’s words hung in the air like the distant rumble of thunder. Jerusa could see why Foster loved her. Never before had she met such a powerful woman. Her character and courage brought goose bumps to Jerusa’s skin. The nobility of her spirit was like a call to arms, a battle cry trumpeting in a dark and terrifying world. Jerusa knew that she would follow Shufah, not just into battle with Kole, but, if she survived, to the end of time.
Taos ran his fingers through his long blond hair, fixing the ponytail that had come loose in the
scuffle with Jerusa. “All right then,” he said, his words pouring out like the snort of a bull. “If this is the road we must travel, then let’s get on with it. This talking makes me sick. You, fledgling, if your ghost sister can lead us to Kole, then have at it. I’d rather go savage than rot away in this house any longer.”
Jerusa couldn’t help but smile at Taos. For all of his harsh words and misplaced aggression, there was a certain aura about him that she could respect. His fiery spirit and bravado seasoned him with an attractiveness she couldn’t quite explain. He was a man of action and courage. Jerusa had to remind herself that he was also a ruthless killer, and given the chance, he’d probably slaughter her without even a tickle of remorse.
Jerusa turned toward Alicia who still stood with her arms crossed. “We need your help.”
Alicia shook her head no. The others all leaned in, concentrating on the spot where Alicia stood, though it was clear that Jerusa was the only one that could see her.
“I know you’re mad at me because I didn’t listen to you.”
Alicia glanced at Jerusa from the side of her eye.
“If I had, then none of us would be in this mess. You were right and I was wrong. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”
Jerusa had Alicia’s attention now.
“But if you don’t help us now, we’re all going to die. And not just me. And not just them.” She pointed to the others in the room. “If you don’t help me, then Kole is going to kill others. Innocent people. I know you don’t want that to happen. I know you’re better than that.”
Alicia shook her head, indicating that she did not want anyone else to die.
“Will you help us?”
Alicia chewed on her bottom lip, her brow furrowed tight, but she nodded. Jerusa smiled and let her shoulders slump a bit. She wanted to grab Alicia around the neck and hug her until her arms went to sleep, but since she would only pass through Alicia and most likely topple onto the floor, she instead blew the girl a kiss.
Jerusa looked to Shufah. “Alicia says she will help us.”
Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1) Page 13
