“So it’s not all rifts we’re talking about?”
“No. Most kill. But those that are doorways bleed not only magic into this world, but also the matter—the very atoms of creation—from the other side.”
My gaze widened a little as the implications hit. “Meaning those who survive such rifts are neither of this world or the next, but a mix of both?”
He nodded. “And the perfect subjects to use in our attempts to develop immunity serums.”
I frowned. “Immunity to what?”
“To light, of course.”
“But why do you need that? You can walk in light easily enough.”
“I can, but those with whom I now share DNA cannot.” He paused, and life seemed to leach from his eyes, leaving them cold and hard and alien. “Did you use your seeking skills on me?”
“Yes. I know you were caught in a rift with three others, one of which was a wraith.” His breathing was becoming harder, faster, a sign that the drug was beginning to shut down his system. I doubted he was aware of the problem just yet, but he would be, very soon. I had to get my answers while he could still speak. “Why are you doing this, Sal? The wraiths will kill us all if they ever get hold of something like that.”
He smiled, but it held little in the way of warmth or humor. “They won’t kill all of us. And it’s not just the wraiths we seek immunity for, but also the vampires.”
His words hit like a punch to the gut, and, for several seconds, all I could do was stare at him. Then I licked my lips and said, voice a little hoarse, “I can perhaps understand the drive to develop light immunity for wraiths given what has happened to you, but why in hell would you want it for the vampires? Are you insane?”
He half shrugged. “It’s not me who seeks such a thing.”
“Meaning it comes from one of your partners? Why?”
“Because he is a rare survivor of a vampire attack. He’s one of them, at least in part.”
I’d heard tales of vampire survivors over the years—or dhampirs, as they were more commonly known—but I’d never actually believed them. It was said while they were unable to walk in light, they were not afflicted with the need of blood. It went some way to explaining not only why they were making the serum for vamps, but also why the vampires seemed to be taking orders from his female counterpart. The rift had muddled their DNA, so they were all now part vampire—although Sal and at least one of his partners was still able to walk in sunlight.
“Surely even your vampire partner cannot want the total and utter destruction that will be wrought on our world if either—”
“Why do you even care?” he cut in harshly. “What have humans ever done for the likes of you and me?”
“They gave us life—”
“And then made no move to help us when we had outlived our usefulness.” He snorted softly. “The vampires, at least, I can understand. They live to eat and breed and destroy, and is that not what you and I were also designed for?”
His breathing was becoming harsher—more of a struggle—and for the first time ever, fear flickered across his beautiful face. The muscles of his strong arms became taut, as if he were trying to force movement. I had no doubt he was attempting the same with his legs, but there was little evidence of response. The drug moved insidiously fast through the body, freezing muscle response from the outer extremities in. It was a swift and horrible way to die, and had there been any other drugs on hand, I would not have used it.
But even as remorse surged, I remembered that this wasn’t my friend. That rift had forever changed him, and within his cool gray skin there now lurked monsters.
Monsters who’d kidnapped young children and were even now torturing and experimenting on them.
It was all that mattered, all I had to concentrate on.
“What did you use?” His voice was harsh—furious—as the realization of an inglorious death hovered in his bright eyes.
And it was that, more than death itself, that angered him, I realized. “Sueño. Where are the children, Sal? Where are you keeping them?”
He hissed. It was an ugly, desperate sound. “Why the fuck did you use such a dirty drug on me? What we had deserved more consideration than that.”
I smiled, but there was little in the way of warmth or humor in it. “What we had died right along with the man I cared about the minute he was caught in that rift and became wraith and vampire and Rhea only knows what else. Where are the children, Sal?”
“I cannot tell you where they all are, because I do not know.”
“Then where are the five you escorted from Carleen?”
He swore again, but he could no more refuse to answer me than he could move or call for help. “Under Chaos. In the very heart of the vampire nest there.”
I blinked. That was one location I certainly hadn’t been expecting. “Why the hell would you leave five children in such a place?”
“Because it would take a hundred déchet in peak fighting form to enter such a nest and survive. There is no such force alive these days—and the shifters lost the capacity for true fighting long ago.”
I seriously doubted that. “But why waste the lives of five children when one or two would have achieved the result?”
He shrugged. Or at least attempted to. Again that wave of fury hit me. I took another sip of coffee, but my hands were trembling, and the liquid splashed over the rim of the cup, splattering across my bare thighs. I placed it on the floor, then met his gaze again.
“Because those five had already outlasted their usefulness.”
I could only stare at him. He had basically given those children to the vampires, knowing what they would do to them, knowing how horrible that death would be.
Suddenly, I was very glad his death would be slow and agonizing. “Are they dead?”
He smiled, though only one part of his mouth responded. Sueño’s creeping death was almost upon him. “No. The vampires are under orders not to touch them until after a rescue attempt.”
“Who made the order? Who is the woman who controls the vampires?”
Again, that fleeting half smile. “We all can, because the minute the rift melded our DNA we became a part of the greater nest.”
The greater nest? That wasn’t something I liked the sound of. “What are the names of the two people who were caught in that rift with you, Sal?”
He opened his mouth, but no sound immediately came out. His chest was bellows-like as he struggled to suck in the air his body and brain was now being deprived of. Death was close, so very close.
“Samuel Cohen.” He paused, then added, his voice little more than a harsh whisper, “Ciara Dream.”
The glint in his eyes had my own narrowing. A second later, I realized what he’d done. “What names are they using in this time?”
Again he opened his mouth, but this time no sound came out. The Sueño had taken full hold. The end was near. I closed my eyes for a moment, then rose and walked over to him, catching his cold, lifeless hands in mine.
“May the goddess forgive your actions against these children, Sal, because I cannot.” There were tears in my eyes and on my cheeks, but fury in my heart. “You had a chance of new beginning at the war’s end, and instead you chose the path of death. I will burn your body and spread your ashes on the wind so that you will never know the peace of the earth mother’s arms around your decaying flesh.”
And with that, I stepped away and watched him die.
It was a bitter, ugly thing to behold, but I nevertheless watched it, until his body gave up the struggle to live and the light of life finally died in his eyes.
Then I sat down, called to the healing state, and carefully chased every drop of the two poisons from my body.
Dawn was rising by the time I was done. I rose, my body stiff and sore from being held in one position for so long, and headed for the door.
I had children to rescue.
It was time to gather the ghosts.
Chapter 14
&nb
sp; Cat and Bear met me at the bunker’s exit, but their greeting was muted, their energy filled with a mix of fear and trepidation. Because of their deeper connection with me, they knew what I intended to do—and were fully aware of the dangers involved.
I’d never called on the adult déchet for help before now, and I really had no idea how they would react—especially given their furious state the last time I’d been in our bunker.
I punched the entry code into the grate and slipped inside before it had fully opened. I hit the CLOSE button as I passed and fought the urge to run down the tunnel. The desire to get under Chaos and rescue those five children might hammer through every part of me, but the last thing I needed was to be caught in my own security measures. I switched off the electro-nets as I approached each one, and only broke into a run once the last was deactivated. My footsteps echoed lightly across the silence and almost felt like a call to arms. I wondered if the adult ghosts were listening. Wondered if they would respond.
I found Nuri and the two men in the medical center. Branna remained fully secured, but he was awake and fighting mad, if the anger that bloomed the minute he spotted me was anything to go by. Jonas was sitting on the bed to the right of Branna’s, and Nuri had dragged in a chair from somewhere and was sitting to Branna’s left.
Only Nuri showed any sort of relief at my arrival. “Did your Sal come looking for you, as you feared?”
“He did.” My voice was clipped, cold. Cat and Bear crowded closer, but I could feel the rest of the children nearby. Their energy stung the air, electrifying it, making the hairs on my arms stand on end.
Nuri’s gaze narrowed. She could obviously feel it, too, but all she said was, “And?”
“And I got the location of five of the children.”
“What?” Jonas leapt off the medibed, a mix of disbelief and hope in his eyes. “How?”
I shot him a glance. “By doing what I was bred to do—seduce, drug, and question him.”
The questions I could see in his eyes got no chance to surface, because Nuri cut him off with an abrupt gesture. “And the remaining children? What of them?”
“Sal didn’t know where they were. He wasn’t told.”
“So they did—do—suspect you.” She pushed up from the chair and began to pace, her dark skirts swishing almost angrily around her ankles. “This is not a good development. Where are the five?”
“In the sewers under Chaos.”
Jonas swore, and Branna just looked angrier. Nuri stopped, her face going pale. “Sal told you this? And you believe him?”
“Yes, because the drug I used gave him no option but to tell the truth.” I paused and half shrugged. “It is undoubtedly a trap, but they are nevertheless there.”
She thrust a hand through her dark hair and resumed pacing. “That is one of the larger nests; I doubt we could ever muster enough people—”
“You won’t have to. I’m going in with the ghosts.”
She stopped again, her gaze narrowing as it swept me. “That is dangerous—for you and for them.”
I snorted softly. “And who in this room is truly bothered about my safety?” I thrust my hand toward the two men. “Them? We both know they would dance on my ashes in glee if I was destroyed.”
“I wouldn’t risk staining the soles of my boots,” Branna growled. “But the thought of the vampires tearing—”
“Branna, enough.” Jonas’s voice was flat, but it nevertheless contained the whip of command.
I glanced at him in surprise. His expression gave little away, but I had no sense of the fierce anger and distaste that had been so evident only hours before. Maybe he was simply controlling it better.
“You cannot go into that place alone,” he said, voice now as neutral as his expression. “It would be both your death and that of the children. Yours and ours.”
“I’m not foolish enough to take my little ones into that place.” My gaze returned to Nuri. “You all need to leave.”
“We can be of more help if we—”
“No,” I snapped, “you can’t. I’m calling to the soldiers who haunt the old corridors. I have no idea if they will actually answer my call to arms, but I can guarantee having two shifters so filled with old hatreds and prejudices standing at close quarters will only inflame an already dangerous situation.”
“And the five children? If you manage to get them all out of that nest alive, where will you take them?”
“I’ll bring them to you, in Chaos.” I hesitated, then stepped back. There was so much more I needed to tell them, but, once again, time was of the essence. I had no idea how long it would take for Sal’s partners to realize things had gone sour, but when they did, they would no doubt order the five children destroyed—especially given that, according to Sal, they’d outlasted their usefulness. Why that should be, I had no idea, and, right now, it wasn’t important. I had to get to them—rescue them—before the vampires were unleashed. “Where is the best place to enter that nest?”
Nuri hesitated. “Any of the open sewer outlets within Chaos’s lower level will get you into their tunnels, but the best place is probably the old main outlet half a click downstream from the drawbridge. It’s the one they generally use.”
I frowned. “If this is common knowledge, why has no one done anything to block it?”
“Because while the old sewer system was completely eradicated within Central to ensure the vampires had no point of entry, the government doesn’t really care what happens beyond its walls.” She shrugged. “Besides, any attempt to shut down that sewer exit would only result in their using the Chaos ones more. I doubt those forced to live on the lower levels would appreciate such an event.”
“But surely an eradication program . . .” I cut the question off. Right now, the why behind allowing an active nest to exist so close to Central didn’t matter. I waved a hand at the door. “Leave. All of you.”
“You’ll need to release Branna first,” Jonas commented.
I hesitated, my gaze meeting his. “Only if you swear to control him. Otherwise, he can take his chances with the ghosts.”
“He will not threaten you in any way or form when released.” Jonas’s gaze was on Branna rather than me. “Will you?”
Branna’s expression was mutinous, but after several seconds, his gaze dropped from Jonas’s, and he muttered, “I will do nothing to harm you in this place. You have my word.”
I smiled grimly. In other words, once out of this place, he would do his utmost to ensure I was as dead as those who haunted these halls.
“Fine,” I said, my gaze on his. “But just remember what is at stake.”
A smile touched his lips. He knew what was at stake, and he didn’t care. It made me wonder just what the déchet had done to his kin during the war. It had to have been bad for this sort of hatred to linger so many years after its end.
I walked around the bed, brought up the main screen, and then released his bonds. He sat up immediately and rubbed his wrists; his gaze, when it met mine, was lethal, but he kept his word and made no move toward me.
I glanced back to Nuri. “Follow Cat. She’ll get you out of here.”
She hesitated, then nodded, her skirts swirling as she spun and walked to the door. Branna cast me another dark look, then leapt off the opposite side of the bed and stalked after her.
Jonas didn’t immediately move, but I could feel his gaze on me. It was a weight that did odd things to my breathing and, for no real reason, made me angry. At the attraction I couldn’t control, at him for hating so much, and at fate for forcing me to destroy the only other good thing that had come into my life in the last one hundred years aside from my little ones.
Only he hadn’t been good, I reminded myself bleakly. Quite the opposite.
“What happened to Sal?” Jonas asked eventually.
I closed my eyes briefly. “He’s dead. He will never harm another child.”
“To which I can only say, ‘good.’” He paused. “I take it he w
as also déchet?”
“Yes. But an assassin, not a soldier.”
“I wasn’t aware there were different types.”
“No, because the few mentions of us in the history books tar us all with the one brush even as they retouch the truth and paint the shifters in a glorious light.”
He didn’t say anything to that, but there wasn’t much that could be said. It was the truth, pure and simple. I waved a hand to the door. “Go.”
He hesitated. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” I crossed my arms and refused to look at him, even though I could feel his silent command to do so. After several seconds, he walked out the door and didn’t look back.
As the sound of his steps retreated, I released a breath and glanced to where Bear waited patiently. “I know you want to come with me, but I need you here. You’re the oldest of the little ones, and the only one who has had any sort of combat training. I’m afraid it falls to you to protect this place—and them—from attack while we’re all gone.”
His energy caressed my skin. You should not be alone with the others. They are dangerous.
Yes, they were. But they were also déchet, and used to following orders. Maybe not mine, but I was hoping that after a hundred years of guarding nothing more than their bones and waiting for orders that would never again come, they would jump at the chance for action.
They are our only hope against such a large nest of vampires, Bear. I have no choice but to attempt this.
If it goes wrong, if death comes, call, he said. We should be together at such a time.
I closed my eyes against the sting of tears. They’d died in my embrace, and he was now offering the same comfort to me. Thank you. I will, I promise.
He pulled away. I took a somewhat shaky breath, then spun and headed for the weapons room. If I was to have any hope of surviving the next few hours, then I’d better be armed to the teeth. It wasn’t just weapons that I grabbed, but a large roll of light tubing. It was as heavy as hell and would restrict the speed with which I could move, but when all else failed, the pack full of weapons and the attached tubing might be the only thing standing between certain death and us.