Thirst for Vampire (Kingdom of Blood and Ash Book 2)

by D. S. Murphy

Penelope’s eyes snapped open, and she sniffed the air hungrily.

  “That’s right,” I said. “It’s time someone fed you. I’m sorry, I should have done this sooner.”

  She reached for me, straining against the chains. I stood over her and held out my wrist, turning it so the blood could drip down on her pale face. She wiped the blood with her hand, licking it off her fingers, then opened her mouth like a baby bird as I squeezed a small trickle of blood out.

  I wrapped my wrist with bandages I’d swiped from the med center and leaned against the far wall.

  “I’m sorry if it tastes funny,” I said. “There’s a lot we have to talk about. So much has happened since... this,” I said lamely. “Damien tasted my blood once and looked disgusted, but I found out later it was just because I tasted so familiar, because he knew my grandfather. But I am different. Half elite, impossibly. I don’t know if that makes my blood taste strange. But then, this is probably the first human blood you’ve ever had, so maybe you have nothing else to compare it to.”

  I was rambling, waiting for any change in Penelope’s appearance. I’d never seen an elite this far gone before. I didn’t even know if my blood would revive her, but I had to try something.

  Gradually, her eyes cleared, shining brightly in the dark cell like sapphires. Her irises focused after a while, and she tilted her head like she was considering me.

  Then she tugged at her restraints, testing them, studying them critically. For a moment, I felt afraid. I’d locked myself in here with a starving vampire and given her a taste of my blood. If she escaped, the guards wouldn’t be able to pull her off me.

  Her eyes fluttered, and she moaned, leaning back against the wall again. I thought she’d gone to sleep, and I wondered if my blood was poisonous, but then I heard her speak in a thin voice.

  “Tobias?” she rasped.

  “Fine,” I said. “Alive. I saw him recently.”

  I didn’t need to tell her that he’d tried to kill me.

  “Where are we?” she asked.

  “Underground, in the rebel headquarters, beneath the old human city.”

  She turned her palms up, looking over the dark red stains on her fingers.

  “I’m elite... and you fed me.”

  “I know it’s a lot to process. I think Tobias changed you, during the execution, hoping you’d survive. When the rebels found you, you were wild, hunting rabbits.”

  “Why am I locked up? I was helping the rebels. I’m not a threat.”

  “Unfortunately, now that you’re elite, they aren’t going to just let you walk around. You need blood to stay conscious, or at least aware. And nobody else is keen to feed you.”

  “So why you. Why now?”

  I took a deep breath. This was it.

  “I discovered something, I thought maybe you’d know the answer. Tobias and Damien, did they ever talk about where they were from, before?”

  There was a long, drawn out silence, and at first I was afraid she wouldn’t answer.

  “Fanno Creek,” she said finally. “It’s a suburb, a few days away. Near one of the compounds.”

  “Which one?” I asked, holding my breath.

  She murmured something, but I couldn’t make it out. I leaned down closer until I could feel her breath against my cheek as she whispered the answer.

  Then she grabbed me and sank her teeth deep into my neck. I struggled, but her arms were like a vice around my body, crushing me against her as she stole my life force. I felt myself growing weaker, and my eyes fluttered. Then I heard shouts. Penelope’s head snapped back, tearing out a chunk of flesh between her fanged teeth. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. She screamed with rage, and her screech seemed to shake the walls as she tugged at the restraints. I heard the creak of the metal walls, bending inwards under her ferocious will. Strong arms carried me out of the room, and I could hear Trevor calling my name before I lost consciousness.

  When I came to, I heard birds chirping and felt light on the back of my eyelids. For a minute I thought I was outside. I felt the wind brush my face, the dappled lighting of weak sun filtered through the ash and leaves.

  But then I saw the glass, and realized I was still contained.

  “Where are we?” I asked weakly, trying to sit up.

  “Stay down,” Trevor said. “You lost a lot of blood. What were you thinking, going in alone like that? She could have killed you!”

  “Easy,” Jazmine said, pulling him away. “How do you feel?”

  I took a deep breath, and the oxygen edified me. My thoughts were slow, like pushing through molasses, and my hands were shaking. I put them in front of my face, and tried to hold them still.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Just tired.”

  “We could only give you a drop of elixir,” Marcus said. “You’d already lost too much blood; if we filled you with elixir at this point, you’d be in danger of turning.”

  “Would that be such a bad thing?” I asked.

  “She’s delirious,” Trevor frowned. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

  I bit my tongue. If I were elite, maybe I wouldn’t be so afraid all the time, so weak. Maybe I could stand up, fight back. Be with Damien. But then I remembered the blood lust in Penelope’s eyes right before she’d attacked me. She was conscious, she was my friend, and she’d still attacked deliberately. I didn’t want to become like that.

  “What were you even doing in there?” Jazmine asked.

  What was I doing? It felt important but I couldn’t remember. Then the pieces came back to me slowly. And a name.

  “I need a map,” I said, sitting up quickly. Cobwebs fell away and I felt clearer. Jazmine handed me a glass of water and I sipped it eagerly.

  We were in some kind of terrarium. Plants and trees grew wildly, creeping over stone paths and signs. The glass was cracked, and in places whole sections had been covered up with wood planks and thick tape, but the air was fresh and the light made me feel alive again. Peacocks with shiny feathers strutted over the mossy rocks, digging for grubs.

  “It was a bird sanctuary,” Marcus said, looking around. “Attached to the mall through an underground tunnel. I like to come here to think sometimes.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  “What you need,” Trevor said gruffly, “is sleep and bed rest. Whatever crazy idea you have brewing, it can wait.” I wanted to argue, but his eyes were full of fire and I was too weak to yell at him right now.

  I nodded, letting him think he’d won, then leaned back against the mat.

  “Bring me some books and coffee and I’ll stay here for a week,” I smiled, adjusting the thick bandages around my neck.

  Trevor grinned, his smile breaking the tension that had formed into hard lines on his face.

  “That we can do. Though I may have to trade a vial of elixir for a pot of coffee.”

  “Worth it,” I said.

  He left with Marcus, leaving Jazmine and I alone.

  “Where’s Camina?” I asked.

  “Sleeping in again,” she said. “I thought she was getting better. But this morning she’s sick. Tremors, vomiting, fever. I don’t know what happened.”

  I did. After my attack, the guards had probably doubled, which meant no late night blood feasts for Camina.

  “She’s detoxing,” I said.

  “From what?”

  “I should have told you earlier,” I frowned. “I wasn’t the first to visit Penelope. Camina has been stealing blood at night.”

  “What, why?”

  “For the elixir,” I said.

  Her eyes widened, with dawning comprehension and then disgust.

  “It’s not her fault,” I said. “Surely you’ve felt it. The elixir, we’ve had so much. It’s difficult to stop.”

  Jazmine crossed her arms. “Yeah, for a few days I lived off sex and chocolate until the itching went away.”

  “Maybe not everyone can get those
luxuries as easily as you can win them from a poker game,” I said. “She needs our help. You have to watch her, help her. Promise.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  Trevor came back a few minutes later with a thermos full of coffee and a stack of novels.

  “I had to ask around and borrow books. Lots of people were willing to donate.”

  I reached for the thermos and sipped the steaming liquid. It was dark and bitter, but so much better than the root based stuff we’d been drinking.

  “It was almost worth getting attacked for this pampering,” I said.

  Trevor’s gaze hardened.

  “Don’t say that,” he glowered.

  “Relax macho,” Jazmine squeezed his arm. “She’s kidding.”

  Trevor had somewhere he was supposed to be, so Jazmine kept me company for awhile, but then she excused herself as well.

  “I’ll be back for dinner, with soup and food.”

  “Maybe I should just go back?”

  “Take a day at least, or the boys will be upset. You know how they enjoy taking care of the weaker sex,” she smirked.

  “Right,” I said. “Well I guess if it makes them feel useful.”

  “This place is between the buildings, hard to find from the outside, and the glass is reinforced. You’ll be safe here. Oh and here,” she said, handing me a sachet of herbs. “Beatrice made this for you. Smells like thyme and nettle. She said it would be invigorating.”

  I placed the poultice near my pillow, enjoying the fresh, spicy scent. In the end, I allowed myself to be coddled for a day, watching a family of six-legged, albino squirrels chase each other up and down a tree outside the window. I tried to read, but couldn’t focus.

  I felt like a fool, getting so close to Penelope. I knew she hadn’t meant to hurt me, she just couldn’t control her blood thirst. And Camina was almost as bad. I felt like I was seeing the emotional core behind the king’s noble system. The elixir given during the renewal ceremonies was about more than just healing or survival. The thirst opened up a need for us; we felt incomplete without it. Citizens needed their weekly fix, just as elite needed to feed to survive. Left to our own devices, we’d rip each other apart, looking for something to fill the longing in our hearts.

  Could we ever trust an elite?

  My thoughts turned to Damien, and the look he’d given me when he’d seen me at the wedding. What would have been our special day, the start of our lives together. Did he think I’d planted the bomb? That I was trying to kill him?

  I snuck out of my bedrest at night, when the light was too dark to do anything but lay awake and be miserable. I wasn’t doing anybody any good by just waiting around, and I hated the idea of the others making plans without me. Plus, I really needed a shower. My hair and neck were still caked with blood, and even though there was a hose and a cold water sink nearby, I’d die for just five minutes of steam and shampoo, and I was tired of wearing the unicorn pajamas Jazmine had brought me.

  Plus, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d learned from Penelope. The main hallway was quiet tonight; someone had set up a large projector that was playing an old movie against a large white screen. Kids were eating popcorn and honeyed sweet potatoes on sticks.

  I stopped near the back and found Beatrice, braiding a young girl’s hair.

  “Have you seen Jacob, or the others?”

  “In the conference room I think.”

  I headed upstairs near the entrance, but the wide windows of the office room were dark. So instead I retraced my steps down to the lower levels, until I heard voices. Soft lights from above and a pair of standing lamps illuminated the small island sanctuary I’d been taken when I arrived, reflecting off the bright orange fish below the surface of the dark water.

  I was about to step over the stone path across the water, but something about their hushed voices made me pause. Jacob, and some of the elder leaders, Trevor, even curate Marcus gathered around the center table. All men, at least a dozen, their faces solemn and hidden in shadow. I could catch fragments of their conversation.

  “We should start with Gostras first, maybe Algrave... those are the closest. Without access to the blood the elite will have to leave the city where they’ll be more exposed.”

  “We don’t know enough about the mechanics.”

  “You don’t need to know how something works to turn it off. A well planned explosive should knock it out. Engineers will be sent to fix the problem so we’ll have to take them out, too.”

  “Hold the whole compound for ransom if we have to,” Steve nodded.

  “It’s too dangerous, they’ll send an army.”

  “So we don’t stay. We just destroy the purification engines and leave. It’ll take weeks to repair or rebuild, by that time the compound will be buried in ash.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  I crossed the rocky bridge, my legs trembling in anger as I stepped into the light. They looked up at me sharply.

  “This is a private meeting,” Jacob said, rising to his feet. “It doesn’t concern you. Besides you should be resting.”

  “The hell it doesn’t,” I said. “Is this why you wanted me out of the way, for this madness? If you destroy the purification engines you’ll turn the compounds against us.”

  “Something has to change. This is war.”

  “Not for them.”

  “They are complicit, with their continued subservience to the elite. They’ve chosen their side.”

  “They had no choice. They never did. They didn’t know resistance was even an option.”

  “So we’ll show them.”

  I glared at Trevor, my eyes stinging. That’s when I noticed the sketch of the purification engines I’d found in Damien’s study, flattened on the table in front of him.

  “You went through my stuff?” I asked, clenching my jaw as rage and betrayal flooded through me.

  “I was just going to help with your laundry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought it would be nice for you to have some clean clothes.”

  “Good thing you checked the pockets thoroughly,” I said, crossing my arms. Then my eyes softened and I took a step closer. “How can you be on board with this? What about all the people we grew up with in Algrave – you’d really sign their death certificates, without any warning? You’ve seen Quandom. The king did that. If you do this, you’ll be just as bad as him.”

  “They don’t have to die,” Trevor said, avoiding my eyes. “They can stay inside, or we can find masks. And even if they breathe too much poisoned ash, we know now that the death doesn’t have to be final. They can come back, like I did.”

  “That should be a choice, not a curse.” I snapped. “What happened to the antidote, and going after the king alone, I thought that was our plan?”

  “We tried that,” Jacob said. “We let you track down the box. Miss Liu tried to make the formula. We tested it, it failed. I’m not sure what else you think we can achieve. She will keep working on a cure, but in the meantime…”

  “There might be another way,” I said quickly. I had to make them see reason.

  “Penelope told me where Damien grew up, I just need a map of the compounds, it’s called Fanno Creek. It was where King Richard developed the elixir. There’s more there, I know it.”

  “I can’t afford men to go on some wild goose chase.”

  “I’m not asking,” I said. “I’ll go alone if I need to.”

  “You’ve already done quite enough,” a man said, raising grumbles from the others.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “You fed the monster. She attacked two guards, almost escaped because of you.”

  “You think I did that on purpose? She could have killed me.”

  “Yes, she should have,” Jacob said. “Yet, here you are. Why were you really in there?”

  “I just told you,” I said. “I needed information, and
I got it. Plus, I wanted to check on her, make sure she’s okay.”

  “Yeah well, the problem is, now she can talk. We had to gag her, she’s always pleading, it’s freaking out the guards. Nobody wants to be around her, they’re afraid she can compulse them. She was better off as a wild animal.”

  “So you’re more afraid of women who can talk? Got it. You’re a bunch of spineless fucktards. I’ll talk to her myself.”

  “I’m afraid more visits to the prisoner are off limits,” Steve said, grabbing my wrist. “We’re interrogating her. A happy side effect, she’s been able to give us significant information about the other compounds she’s visited.”

  A chill ran down my spine. I’d woken her up, and now they were interrogating her.

  “In the meantime,” Jacob said, “I’ll have to insist you leave the planning to us.”

  “And I suggest you learn to behave,” Steve added, “or we may have to lock you up as well.”

  I yanked my arm away, pushing him away. I glared at Trevor. He shrugged apologetically, but made no move to stand up for me. Asshole.

  11

  I stormed upstairs, furious. I still felt shaky and a little light-headed, but I wasn’t about to let them lock me away in an infirmary while they plotted genocide. I should’ve known better. The terrorists were exactly as bad as we always thought they were. They wanted to bring down the whole system, and make everyone as miserable as they were.

  King Richard was cruel, and unjust, of course – it terrified me that he had Jamie and Loralie in his control. I needed to rescue them as soon as possible. But that meant finding a way to weaken his control or will, not antagonize the compounds needlessly or attack innocents.

  In the back of my mind, I’d been expecting a peaceful transition of power. Take out the king, and Damien could rule. With me at his side, maybe – a human to temper his worst impulses. He’d already said I made him better. The system wasn’t irrevocably flawed, it just needed better leadership. We’d be able to rein in Nigel and the other bad actors. With Tobias, Penelope, a council maybe, made up of humans and elite.

  But Jacob was right, it would take too long, and it all depended on finding a way to remove the king. The antidote was our best hope. I had to find an answer, and soon. Before these misguided terrorists did something stupid, and made everything worse for everyone.