“Why?”
“Because of you, vampire.” The scientist’s voice was grave. “Because of what you told them, about Requiem. About the cure. They needed someone who understood the research, who worked firsthand with the virus. I came here with a slight concussion and a broken arm, and they still had me begin work as soon as the painkillers kicked in, and I was lucid enough to stand.” His eyes gleamed behind his glasses as he stared at me. “Of course, if I’d realized what they had, what they wanted me to do, I would’ve started as soon as I woke up, broken arm or no. To think…” He stared at me, appraising. “After all this time, the answer was right in front of us. If we’d only understood vampires a little more.”
“You mean the research,” I guessed. “The failed vampire experiments.”
“Yes.” Richardson nodded. “The key was vampire blood. That’s what we always thought, but we were only half correct. Normal vampire blood wouldn’t do it. Type 2 and 3 vampires still create rabids when they try to produce offspring. We needed something stronger, something more powerful, to overcome the Rabidism virus. But you know that now, don’t you? You realized the missing link.”
Before I could reply, he turned and stepped to the counter behind him, picking up something with a clink. When he turned back, a vial glinted from his fingers as he held it up, full of something that shone a dark red under the lights.
“Your blood,” he murmured. “The blood of a Master vampire, combined with the experimental vaccinations we gave to Zeke Crosse before he left, all those months ago. It hasn’t been tested yet, not on a human, anyway. But you already injected that Jackal fellow, and he’s on his way to a full recovery now. So, based on that, and the research I was able to perform…” He paused, staring at the vial, his voice going faint with awe, with hope. “This…is our cure. We finally have a cure.”
Eden celebrated that night. Somehow, though the mayor and the doctor had wished to keep it quiet for now, word of the cure had leaked out of the hospital and spread like wildfire through the masses. Despite near-starvation circumstances, cases of alcohol were mysteriously unearthed from somewhere, and hunting parties had managed to return with several deer that afternoon, so the mood of the camp was jubilant. Bonfires were lit throughout the camp, and humans milled around and laughed and talked, uncaring of the few vampires who walked among them now.
I hung back from the crowds, leery of the huge fires but also not wanting to be around that many humans drunk on alcohol and giddiness. Their excited voices trickled to me as I moved through shadows, hearing snippets of conversation, about the cure, and Eden, and going home.
I couldn’t join their celebration. We had a cure. The one thing both humans and vampires had searched for, sought after, desperately needed, for six decades. Dr. Richardson had told me that, if the cure worked as he expected, any human injected with the vaccine should be rendered immune to Rabidism. It wouldn’t “cure” the rabids and turn them human again; the rabids were already dead, and death was the one thing you couldn’t cure. But it would nullify the disease and make it so the rabid couldn’t pass Rabidism on to living creatures. If you could get close enough to inject it with the cure, anyway. And a vampire who was given the vaccine would no longer be a carrier of Rabidism and would, in theory, be able to create offspring again. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start. I should’ve been happy.
But the cost was high. For me, anyway. The humans didn’t know. They would never understand the sacrifice that had been made so that they could live—so that we all could live.
I wished he could be here now, to see it.
Wandering the perimeter of the camp, I spotted the person I was looking for near the edge of the light and made my way toward him. Zeke also hung back from the crowds, talking to a pair of humans in the shadows. As I got closer, I recognized them, or one of them, anyway. Silent Jake, tall, dark and leaning on a crutch, shook Zeke’s hand before hobbling away with a dark-haired woman, her arm wrapped protectively around his waist. Zeke smiled faintly as I approached, his gaze distant as he watched them limp away.
“Hey, you,” I said softly, touching his elbow.
“Allie.” His voice was low, relieved, as he turned. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and kissed me, one hand pressed to the small of my back, the other against my cheek. I closed my eyes and relaxed into him, letting myself feel safe, that we had won, if only for a moment.
“Dr. Richardson told me you were awake,” he said as we pulled back, his blue eyes intense as he gazed down at me. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. “What about you?” I asked, running a hand across his chest, the place he’d been run through, twice. He seemed fine now. No wounds, no scars or even bloodstains. For the first time, I was relieved that Zeke was a vampire. Had he been human, he would definitely have been killed.
Zeke smiled grimly. “I’m all right. Took four bags of blood before I felt normal again, and I gave Dr. Thomas the shock of his life when he came to examine me. Mayor Hendricks didn’t mind, because we’d just saved his town but…I think it’s safe to say that everyone knows I’m a vampire now.”
I stroked his cheek, my voice sympathetic. “Are you okay with that?”
“It’s getting better.” He leaned into my touch. “The people here don’t trust me anymore, but I don’t blame them. They knew me as a human, but now that I’m a vampire, they don’t know what to think. I guess I’ll have to prove myself to them, to everyone, just like you did with us.”
“You plan to stay, then.”
He nodded. “Until Eden is back on its feet, at least. After that…” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know if they’ll let me stay here, if they’ll let us stay here. I guess we’ll have to play it by ear, then.”
“Zeke Crosse?”
We turned. A woman stood behind him, not old but quite weathered, looking battered by hardship and life. Her light brown hair was pulled behind her, and her left hand was wrapped in bandages. Zeke broke away from me, his eyes going wide as he faced her.
“Mrs. Brooks! I didn’t know you were here. They said you had gotten off the island, but…” He paused, raking a hand through his hair, his voice thick with guilt. “I’m so sorry about your husband. And…and Matthew. I should have been there—”
She raised her hand. “Is it true what they say?” she almost whispered, though her voice was matter-of-fact. Zeke winced, shoulders hunching, as the woman continued. “That…that you’re a vampire now. Is that true?”
He bowed his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
She trembled, looking like she would flee if she could, but didn’t back away. “You’ve killed people,” she prodded, like she desperately hoped Zeke would disagree, prove her wrong. “To…to feed yourself.”
“Yes.”
Her face went pale, the last of her courage seeming to disappear. “Monster,” she whispered, and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from pushing forward and snarling in her face. You want a monster? I thought furiously. I’ll show you a monster. You’re looking at the wrong person. But Zeke didn’t say anything, only stood there with his head bowed, accepting the accusation. The woman didn’t turn and flee, either, staring at Zeke as if trying to see the demon in him.
“And yet…” She hesitated a moment. “Caleb and Bethany tell me that you saved them on Eden. Saved them from that horrible vampire who wanted to kill everyone. Who killed my husband and son…” She broke off with a sob, wiping her eyes, before composing herself. Zeke peeked up, his eyes cautiously hopeful, but the woman didn’t see.
“If that is true,” she went on, “if you saved the other half of my family, then I can’t hate you, Zeke. Even if you are a vampire. But…I do fear you. I’m afraid of what you might do to my children. They think so highly of you. They don’t understand what could really happen.”
“I would never hurt them,” Zeke said huskily.
“I know you believe that.” She nodded, looking defeated. “They want to see you,” she went on, and Zeke jerked up
. “Caleb…is quite insistent. They were both devastated when you left, and I don’t feel right, keeping them away from the boy who brought them to Eden, who looked after them their whole life. You were their family before I was. I can’t keep them from you.”
She sniffled and looked behind her, to where a female soldier stood a little ways away, holding the hands of two familiar faces. Caleb beamed and waved wildly to us, and his mother gave Zeke a pleading, teary look.
“Please, don’t hurt my children, Ezekiel,” she whispered, and moved back as the soldier released the kids. Bethany hesitated, but Caleb pelted forward at full speed, coming right at us. Zeke stiffened, and I quickly moved behind him, placing a hand on his back.
“You’re okay,” I breathed so that only he could hear me. “I’m right here.”
And then I had to move aside, as Caleb crashed into Zeke, wrapping both arms around his legs and rocking him back a step. “Whoa! Hey, easy there, rug rat.” He steadied them both, though I could see his shoulders were tight, his face carefully controlled. “Man, you’ve gotten big. What’ve you been eating lately?”
“You left!” Caleb accused, peering up at him, his jaw set and angry, and Zeke blinked in surprise. “You left me,” the boy went on, though he still didn’t release his grip on Zeke’s legs. “Just like Ruth. Just like Allison.” He spared me the glare of an indignant six-year-old, before turning on Zeke again. “You promised we’d all live together in Eden. Why did you go?”
Zeke sighed. Gently freeing himself, he knelt so that he was face-to-face with Caleb. Bethany, coming up behind him, waved shyly, and Zeke smiled at her, holding out an arm to draw her close.
“I had to,” he explained to them both. “I had to go find Allison and bring her back. You understand that, right? I wasn’t going to leave forever.”
They nodded, though Caleb’s bottom lip still jutted out stubbornly. “You guys have a family now,” Zeke continued. “You have parents, and goats, and a house, and everything. Allie didn’t have any of that. That’s why I wanted to bring her to Eden. She needed a home, just like you.”
I smiled wistfully. Home and family. Zeke had known, even before I did, how important that was. That I’d longed for both; a family that wouldn’t leave me, and a place to belong. I’d found them, with Zeke, Kanin, even Jackal. I was a vampire, and I belonged in the darkness, but that was all right. I wasn’t alone anymore. And my path, as my sire always told me, was my own.
Bethany nodded silently, accepting Zeke’s explanation, but Caleb looked thoughtful. “Are you a vampire now?” he asked simply, gazing up at Zeke with wide, innocent eyes. “Like Allison?”
Zeke flinched, but nodded. “Yes,” he said softly. “So, that means I can’t be around you guys as much anymore, okay? You might not see me for a long time, but that doesn’t mean I left, or that I don’t care about you anymore. It just means… that I’m a vampire. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Caleb chewed his lip for a moment, pondering this. Bethany looked a little frightened at the mention of vampires, but with everything she’d been through, you couldn’t blame her. Even if this was Zeke.
“Do you have fangs?” Caleb asked suddenly. Zeke blinked, gave him a wary look.
“Yes.”
“I wanna see.”
Now he did pull back, stiffening. “Caleb…”
“I wanna see!” Caleb pressed forward, his face earnest. “The pastor says vampires are bad and evil, but I don’t believe him. Allison is a vampire, and she’s not bad. But everyone is scared of you now, even Mom.” His lip stuck out defiantly. “Show me, Zeke. I wanna see if it makes you different.”
Caleb’s mother had come forward, her face tight with fear, but Zeke held up a hand. “It’s all right,” he said, glancing at her. “Let me show him. Maybe he’ll understand better, then.”
Her face turned white, but she gave a stiff nod. Zeke sighed, bowing his head, then raised it again, curling his lips back. His fangs gleamed in the darkness, bright and lethal, and Bethany skittered back with a shriek.
Caleb didn’t move. He faced Zeke calmly, regarding the fangs bared in his direction with a furrowed brow, as if searching for something.
Slowly, one small hand rose, touching Zeke’s jaw, and Zeke jerked back, his eyes going wide with astonishment. Caleb held his gaze, frowning, then shook his head.
“No,” he said simply, as if this was something he’d known all along. “You’re still the same.”
Zeke’s eyes closed. With a short breath, he pulled Caleb against him, bowing his head. After a moment, Bethany stepped up to join them, leaning against his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her, as well. I blinked red from my eyes and stepped back to give them space.
A dark, lean shadow moved across the trees, away from the crowds, heading in the direction of the lake, and I frowned. It was Jackal. I hadn’t seen my blood brother since he’d been injected with my blood, and I’d been intending to check how he was doing once I caught up to Zeke. I was less worried about him than I had been; even wounded in a city of unsuspecting mortals, he’d proven he knew how to control himself, sometimes even better than me. The only question was his willingness to behave, to not give in to the monster.
Where was he going now?
Curious, I followed, pausing only once to glance back at Zeke and the children. He was on his feet again, talking to Caleb’s mother, the two kids pressed close. He met my gaze over her shoulder, smiled and nodded for me to go on. He’d be all right. The monster had no hold on him, at least not right now.
I slipped down the bank, following the shoreline past the dock, to where a lone, tall figure stood at the edge of the water. The breeze tugged at his dark hair, and his duster billowed and flapped behind him as he gazed out over the waves. A strange prickle ran up my spine. For just a moment, with him standing motionless and silent at the water’s edge, he reminded me, very faintly, of Kanin.
I shook myself, wondering where that had come from, and stepped forward.
“Hey,” I greeted, making him turn. The black wounds were still there, on his cheeks and brow, but they were mere shadows of what they had been, and the dark veins covering his neck were gone completely. “Looks like you survived.”
“Disappointed, sister?” Jackal smirked at me, looking like his old self. “I told you, I always come out on top, no matter what.”
“Like a bad penny.” I looked past him and saw a rowboat a few yards away, ready to be shoved into the water. My heart gave a lurch with the realization, surprising me with its reluctance to see him go. “You’re leaving, I suppose.”
“Yeah.” Jackal glanced behind him, staring over the waters of the lake. “Past time, I think. We killed Sarren, found the cure, and saved the world from another superplague. I’m about to choke on all this goodwill.” He turned back to me, grinning. “Figured I’d leave before I got too bored and started making my own fun. You and the puppy probably wouldn’t like that.”
“You could still stay,” I said. “Help rebuild Eden.”
He snorted a laugh. “Please. Stay and help a bunch of sweaty meatsacks with manual labor? Not my scene, sister. You should know me better by now.”
“Yeah, silly me, thinking you might not be a complete bastard after all.” I smiled and rolled my eyes. “So, where are you going? You’ve been cured of Rabidism. I suppose you’re off to raise that vampire army.”
“Well….” Jackal scratched the side of his neck. “I’ve been thinking about that. And I realized, to make it work, I’d have to get a whole new batch of minions. I’m certainly not going to use my former toadies, not when the little shits tried to kill me. I’d have to go back to Old Chicago, kill everyone there, and start over from scratch. And that seems like a hell of a lot of work.” Jackal shook his head. “Ruling a city of murdering, backstabbing humans sounds a lot easier than ruling a city of murdering, backstabbing vampires. And I think I deserve a vacation. Maybe I’ll revisit the idea in a century or two. Right now, I’m going to take a break
from all this saving the world shit and relax. Maybe travel awhile, see what’s out there. I always wanted to see Europe. Apparently, the vampires there are the real deal. Some of them can trace their bloodline all the way back to the first bloodsucker himself. It’d be interesting to see what they can do, how they run things.” He grinned at me, showing fangs. “I don’t suppose I could get you to come with me.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m staying in Eden with Zeke, until the city is back on its feet, anyway.”
“Ah, well. Can’t say I didn’t try.” Jackal stepped back, raising a hand in a mock salute. “See you around, sister. Have fun with your bloodbags. And tell the puppy that if he ever wants my head, I’m ready for him anytime.”
“Hey,” I called, as he started toward the boat. He turned back, raising an eyebrow: a tall, lean vampire silhouetted against the night, golden eyes shining in the dark. “Thanks,” I said quietly. “For sticking around.”
My blood brother snorted. “Don’t go soft on me, little sister,” he warned, and his tone was only half teasing. “You’re a Master now. If we ever run into each other again, I won’t go easy on you.”
I smiled. “Looking forward to it.”
Then I turned and walked away, and Jackal stepped up to the rowboat, shoving it into the water. I didn’t stop, continuing up the bank, back to Zeke, the humans, and the light. Jackal—my blood brother, Kanin’s other prodigy, and the raider king of Old Chicago—continued to glide into the darkness. I felt the pulse through our blood tie drifting farther and farther away, until I could barely sense him anymore.