by P. T. Hylton
Owl flew backwards and slammed into the wall. She tried to raise her rifle and squeeze off a round, but the other vampire didn’t give her a chance. She charged at Owl, a knife in her deformed hand. With her free hand. she pushed Owl’s rifle to the side and thrust the knife toward Owl’s throat. Owl blocked with her forearm, and the blade sank into her flesh. She dropped her rifle and snarled, her face a mask of animal rage as she grabbed her attacker’s throat.
Alex pressed forward, trying to get an angle on the female vampire, but the space was too tight, and the two vampires were moving too quickly for her to get a clean shot.
The vampire grabbed Owl’s hand and tore it away from her throat. With her other hand, she pressed on the blade still embedded in Owl’s forearm and slowly sliced deeper, making a long gash that nearly reached her elbow. Owl cried out in pain and pulled her arm away from her attacker. The vampire raised her knife, finally having an unblocked angle on Owl’s chest.
Just before the vampire thrust the knife forward, something slammed into her from behind, tackling her to the ground. A blade sliced through the air, cutting off the vampire’s hand. Another blade quickly followed, removing her head.
Jaden turned to Owl. “Are you all right?”
Owl pressed a hand to her bloody forearm. “More or less. Thanks.”
Alex started to move down the hallway towards another office. “Let’s not breathe easy just yet. There could be more of them.”
“I don’t sense any other vampires in the area.” Jaden sheathed his swords as he spoke.
Alex frowned. As much as she appreciated Jaden’s help, she hated that he’d gone solo and disregarded her orders. There was a serious conversation in their near future. But now wasn’t the time. “What about Maryana? If she’s not here, where is she?”
“That is a very good question.”
24
The GMT gathered in the hangar two days later, shortly after their third mission in as many days. The previous day, they’d dropped the virus on London in the hopes of clearing another island of the Ferals. They’d spent the next day on another fruitless trip to the Puerto Rico, and they had yet to find a single piece of evidence that either Maryana or the away ship was on the island.
The support staff milled around, many of them still uncomfortable in Jaden’s presence. After a career spent making sure the GMT didn’t bring back any biological material from a vampire, they now had one standing in their midst, and they were supposed to be okay with it. Some were adjusting faster than others. Becky, Alex’s post-mission handler, had even exchanged a pleasant hello with Jaden that morning.
Now that the GMT was back in the hangar, they were taking inventory and inspecting their weapons before heading to Tankards, as they always did after a mission. Jaden carefully ran a whetstone along one of his blades. He looked up and caught Alex’s eye.
“I think we need to consider the possibility that Maryana is no longer on the island,” he said.
Alex frowned. “It’s not that I hadn’t considered the notion. It’s just… If she’s not on the island, she could be anywhere. Where the hell do we start?”
“Actually, that’s not true.” Owl walked over and sat down in a chair next to them. “I hope you don’t mind me butting into your conversation. Vampire hearing and all that.”
“No,” Alex said. “Speak your mind.”
“You said Maryana could be anywhere. That’s not the case. The away ship has a limited range. We’re talking two thousand miles, tops, and that’s assuming she’s flying efficiently.”
“But she could recharge the ship, right?” Jaden asked.
“Sure. Assuming she figures out how. And, if she does, a full recharge will take close to a day. It’s only been, what, three days? So, worst case, she’s made it four thousand miles.”
Alex frowned again. “Geez, four thousand square miles. No problem.”
Jaden gave his a blade swing through the air and held it for a moment. He slid it back into its scabbard, apparently satisfied, and began work on his other sword. “There’s a lot of ocean in that four thousand miles. Realistically, she’d probably have to be in the Western Hemisphere.”
Alex shot him a look. “Man, if only we had someone who knew her in her past life. Such a person might be able to tell us where she’d lived. Where her followers might congregate. That kind of thing. If such a person existed.”
“Dare to dream,” Owl said, dryly.
Jaden was quiet for a moment, then he spoke. “Yes, I knew Maryana, but not as well as I thought I did. For ten years, I thought she was a faithful member of the one hundred true vampires. I mentored her, just as I had so many others. She learned so quickly, so eagerly. We considered her one of our most promising young members. But she had been deceiving us from day one.”
“How’d you find out?” Alex asked.
“A few of us were in London. Robert was there. As was Natalie. We were walking through the north side of the city one night, and we felt a strong presence. Vampires. A fairly large number of them.” He set down his sword, his full attention on telling his story now. “We kept tabs on each other back then. We didn’t know where every vampire was at all times, but we had a general sense of what the others were up to. For so many of them to be gathered in London without our knowledge was beyond strange. We eventually located the vampires. They were in a basement in a rundown section of town. Fifteen vampires, and we’d never met any of them.”
“She’d been turning people behind your back?” Alex ventured.
“Oh, yes. Though, we didn’t know it at the time. The vampires in that basement wouldn’t say much. They told us they’d been ordered not to reveal the identity of their master. They’d also been ordered to stay in that basement. venturing out only one hour a night for food, awaiting their glorious master’s return.” He paused. “The way they talked about this master… It was clear they weren’t just following orders because they had to. They worshipped this mystery vampire.”
“What did you do with them?” Owl asked.
Jaden met her gaze. “We killed them. I know it may sound harsh, but…at the time, keeping our numbers to one hundred was our most sacred duty. Their very existence was an abomination that threatened the survival of our kind.”
“You really were big on the slaughter back then,” Alex said.
Jaden continued as if he hadn’t heard. “We didn’t learn Maryana was behind the nest of vampires. Not then. But it was the start of our investigation. We never learned the full extent of her deception. She could have had similar nests in cities around the world. And if they all survived the virus…”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “Point taken. Let’s see what we can do about finding her before she assembles her entire army.” She paused and turned to Owl. “Hey, you mind giving us a minute?”
Owl hesitated, then nodded. “Of course.”
Alex waited until Owl was out of sight, hoping that would mean she was out of earshot too, though with vampire hearing, it was tough to tell. She turned to Jaden.
Jaden set down his sword and looked at her. “Is this where you give me the speech about being a team player.”
“No,” Alex said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thought about it plenty. I’ve played out the speech a dozen times in my mind. But the truth is, you’re much more experienced than I am. You’ve been through more battles than I’ve even heard of. You don’t really consider yourself a part of the GMT. You consider us a convenient ride to the surface.”
Jaden crossed his arms. “That’s not—”
“Yes, it is. You proved that the other day when you executed your own plan, without so much as discussing it with me. A speech isn’t going to make you a true part of the GMT. Neither is a uniform. You have to make that decision for yourself.” She paused. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay,” he said, slowly. Clearly, she’d caught him off guard with her words. “Go on.”
“You’re failing her.” Alex nod
ded in the direction Owl had headed. “You turned her. That means you have a responsibility, right? Isn’t that what you always say? Mentoring a new vampire is a sacred duty.”
Jaden’s face darkened. “I won’t be lectured on how to mentor a new vampire. Not from someone who knows nothing of the process.”
“I know Owl,” Alex said. “I know that she joined us for a drink at Tankards after every mission for as long as I can remember, right up until you changed her. Now, she hides in that steel box Frank lived in, only coming out for missions. I know that she used to be the most in-control person I knew, and now she’s struggling to contain her anger.”
“Take her out drinking? That’s your advice?”
“My advice is to do your damn job. We need you to find Maryana and take her down. If you don’t want to act like a true GMT member on missions, I can’t make you. But I’m not going to let you flake on your responsibility to Owl. That’s where I draw the line.”
Jaden glared at her, clearly bothered by her words. But, tellingly, he wasn’t arguing with her, either.
Alex turned toward the door. “Excuse me. I’m going to go have a drink with my team.”
Maryana perched on the roof of what had once been known as the Lincoln Memorial and looked out at the National Mall spread before her. Though it was dark, her vampire sight allowed her to take in every rich detail of the scene.
Dozens of Ferals stumbled through the grassy field in various states of the virus. Some were still trying to walk. Others stood on wobbly legs, barely keeping their balance. And some were lying in the grass, mere hours from the disease taking their lives.
Maryana couldn’t help but smile.
Stephen crouched next to her. After watching for five minutes, he cleared his throat. “Shouldn’t we be moving on? There’s so much to be done.”
Maryana shot him an annoyed look. “What’s the point of eternal life if you can’t stop to smell the corpses every once in a while? You see that out there?” She gestured to the grassy mall in front of them. “We did that! We carried the infection here, and now they’re suffering and dying because of us. Take a moment to enjoy the fruits of our labor.”
“Yes, ma’am, but—”
“Ugh, fine.” She stood up and stretched for a moment, then hopped off the roof, landing on the cracked concrete below with a soft thud. She walked through the basin that had once been a reflecting pool, though it was long since dry. She stretched her arms wide as she walked, brushing them against the suffering Ferals they passed.
“See,” Stephen asked, as he walked by her side. “Isn’t this nice, too?”
“I suppose it is.” Up ahead, she saw a Feral on its back, its glassy eyes staring up at the night sky. “In a way, this is even better than the Infestation. Then, I knew dying was only temporary. The victims became vampires. But now… Not only are these deaths permanent, but the Ferals are so stupid, they don’t fully understand what’s happening. There’s a delicious primal scent to their fear. Do you smell it, Stephen?”
“Indeed, I do,” he said.
Maryana paused in front of the dying Feral. After observing for a moment, she put her foot on its chest. Then she pressed down hard. The creature’s ribs broke with a satisfying crack. “Still, it is fun to cause a little of the pain more directly.”
“I expect there will be plenty of that in our near future,” Stephen said.
“I couldn’t agree more.” She took one more look ahead. “This town always was full of vampires, even before the Infestation.”
They walked through the National Mall and turned south at the Washington Monument, heading toward Garfield Park. They were still half a block away when she heard the shouts of joy and excitement begin.
“She comes!” someone yelled.
“She has begun her rein!” another shouted.
Maryana ignored the increasingly excited shouts until she reached the edge of the park, then she held up a hand, silencing them. She looked out over her small army. There were fifty-three of them, all twisted vampire-Feral hybrids, just like her. They stared at her with adoration.
“Come, my friends,” she said. “You have the rest of eternity to worship me. But now, we have work to do.”
Alex drained her glass and set it on the table, leaning back in her chair. Their table at Tankards was less crowded than it once had been, and it was quieter without Patrick there to argue with Ed, but it was still nice. It felt like home. The mingled smells of beer and sweat. The dim, yellowish quality of the bar light. The chatter of the patrons…
She noticed that the bar had fallen silent. Every eye in the place was focused on the door, where Jaden and Owl stood. Owl was uncomfortable, her eyes on the floor. Jaden wore an easy smile. His eyes scanned the bar and settled on Alex. “Ah, there we are. Shall we, Owl?”
“What the hell is this?” one of the patrons grumbled.
Jaden clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s a drinking establishment. And, based on the little I’ve seen, a very good one.”
Chuck let out a laugh. “This is unexpected.” He raised a hand, signaling to Louie, the bartender, for another round.
Jaden and Owl slowly made their way through the silent, staring crowd to the GMT’s table.
“This was a bad idea,” Owl said, as she sat down.
“Are you kidding me?” Alex said. “This is great. Don’t let the lookee-loos bother you, Owl.”
“Yeah,” Ed said. “Just remember, you’ll be alive long after all of them are compost.”
“Lovely thought,” Owl muttered.
Chuck gave Jaden a long look. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you two are here. But what made you decide to join us tonight?”
Jaden shrugged. “I heard it’s a GMT tradition.” He met Alex’s eyes. “And we’re GMT. For real.”
Alex couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Good. Then let’s talk about how we find Maryana.”
25
George walked into the lab and found Lin sitting behind a bank of three monitors, her eyes flickering between them. Data scrolled across the middle screen, almost too fast to follow. Four other biologists sat at other stations around the lab, but Lin was clearly at the center of the action.
George approached the lead biologist and nodded when he finally caught her eye. “How’s the work coming? Any progress?”
She looked at him, her face unreadable. “Yes, George, we designed a cure and have produced it since you were here an hour ago.”
George chuckled. Maybe he was being a bit overbearing, but with good reason. “I’m meeting with the vampires in an hour, and I need to know where things are.”
Lin sighed. “Honestly, we’ve barely scratched the surface. We’re digging through all of this data as fast as we can, but it will take weeks before we can make sense of everything. So, no, we haven’t made any big jumps.”
George clenched his jaw for a moment, “I don’t understand. We have the information on the virus. Why can’t we start on a vaccine? Why will it take so long?”
“Because we need to understand it first. This virus is insanely complex. There are two completely separate components to it, each one a groundbreaking advancement in biotechnology. It took teams of people working for years to put it together. Once the virus finds a host, it becomes a part of them and their very code redesigns itself. I don’t even know where to start!” Lin stood up, almost shouting by the time she finished.
Everyone in the lab stopped what they were doing and stared at her. George drew in a breath to shout back. Then he saw the look of complete exhaustion on the faces of everyone staring at them. They all had bags under their eyes and wore vacant expressions. He forced himself to take a deep breath. “When was the last time any of you took a break?”
Lin glared at him. “I don’t know. We’ve been here for days, and we’ve squeezed in a few, along with a few naps. If you’re saying that we need to work harder—”
“I’m not saying that,” George said, holding up a hand. “Let’s shut
it down for the day. Everyone, go get some sleep and a take a shower. We can pick this up tomorrow.” He walked out of the lab without waiting for a response.
George checked his tablet as he walked through the hallway. He didn’t want to go into the meeting with Natalie empty handed. There had to be something he could give her. He kept his head down as he passed the vertical gardens. A voice called out to him, “Hey, George.”
He looked up from his tablet and saw Frank standing in the garden. George stopped, surprised. He checked his tablet for the time again. If the sun was already down, he was late for his meeting. The tablet confirmed that he still had an hour before sunset.
“Frank, what are you doing up?”
“I just wanted to come and see the plants before the lights go off.”
George walked over to Frank and stood beside him among the rows of sprouting vegetables. “Don’t you have daysickness? I thought it hurt to be up before the sun goes down.”
Frank gave George a smile. “Yep, it hurts like hell. The thing is, I lived my entire vampire life on New Haven. I had daysickness for a century and a half. I know it’s really messed up, but the pain feels like home to me.”
George didn’t know how to respond. He hadn’t considered the misery of Frank’s existence. He had always known vampires as wise creatures from an old world. He had never known anyone this damaged.
“I love watching these plants grow,” Frank said. “Seeing them reach for the lights above them, watching them use the water and soil to grow and change. It’s amazing. Then, one day, we pick them and they become part of us.” Frank paused and then gave a little laugh. “Well, not part of me. There’s another step in that process.”
“That’s great, Frank. I’m glad that you can find peace here. I hate to run, but I’ve got to get ready for tonight's meeting.”
