Garden of Thorns

  I’ve been in this city for two years now. And this is the first time I’ve ever had a run in with any Born.

  Born being reckless. Feeding on someone out in the open. Not unnerved by the possibility of being caught.

  This is so wrong.

  Darkness fully blankets the city when at 7:23 Lexington finally pulls the door open and steps inside.

  Relief washes through my system as his eyes search the shop for me. I’m on my feet, walking toward him and his eyes finally find me.

  “She going to be okay?” I ask quietly as we step back outside. He walks fast, heading generally back in the direction of my house, which is miles from here.

  “I think so,” he says, keeping his voice down. His eyes dart all over the place. His shoulders are tight, his knees slightly bent. He’s on edge, ready to fight again. “I dropped her off right in front of the emergency room doors when no one was looking. I waited to make sure someone found her. They took her in. Her heart was still beating, so I think she’s in the clear.”

  I nod. “Good.” My mind is reeling, going through all the implications of what this means. “You took care of those Born?”

  He nods. “Yeah, they won’t be causing any more trouble any time soon.”

  That’s for sure. At least one of them is dead.

  “Lexington,” I breathe as we continue down the road at a fast pace. “I’ve never heard of a Born attacking at random in the city. They weren’t even hiding.”

  “Word must be spreading that the House of Allaway has shrunk,” he says. A homeless man steps forward, rambling and reaching a hand out toward us. Lexington takes my hand in his and pulls us to the other side of the road, picking up his pace. I can barely keep up and he doesn’t let go of my hand. “The vampires in this region must be realizing they can get away with this kind of shit and that no one is going to come after them.”

  “This is bad,” I breathe. “The Houses are the only things that keep this secret in check. If there’s no governing, no fear of reprimand from the local regents or word getting to the King…”

  “This could get out of hand real fast,” Lexington finishes for me.

  The screen’s glow illuminates Lexington’s face as he taps away at his laptop. I arrange the pages we’ve printed on my dining table, taping the last few together. In all, the fourteen pages create one giant map of the New England area.

  The general area of the Allaway rule.

  “Got another one in Michigan,” Lexington says as he shakes his head. He tells me the town and I mark it with a red pen on the map.

  “That puts us up to seventeen blatant attacks in the last six months,” I breathe. My eyes dart all over the map. The attacks are concentrated most central to Vermont, the heart of the Allaway rule, thinning out toward their borders.

  Ten attacks in New York alone. Three in Pennsylvania. And one each in Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio and Virginia.

  “That’s all I’m seeing in the past six months that are obvious,” Lexington says as he tips back in his chair on two legs. He laces his fingers behind his head, still staring at the screen. “Comparing it to the other three quarters of the States and their House rule, this is getting to be a problem. There’s been one attack under Conrath rule, and that was pretty nuts.” He shakes his head knowingly. “And there’s been three out West. Compared to seventeen in this area.”

  “It kind of sounds like Charles has just given up,” I say as I affix tape to the back of our makeshift map. I hang it on the wall directly across from the table. Too many red marks, each of them representing a report of a death where the victim had fang marks in their neck. We haven’t even touched missing persons reports. It would be impossible to tell which of those were due to a vampire turning them, or dying and their bodies just never being found.

  “This is going to be noticed by Cyrus,” Lexington says, sliding the laptop aside. He leans forward, his elbows on the table, cupping his chin in his hands as his eyes study the map.

  “People die when the King comes around,” I observe. The fear that preceded his arrival in Silent Bend was a tangible, choking thing.

  Lexington nods. “Someone’s here.”

  A knock sounds on the door and a second later, it swings open.

  Instantly, Lexington disappears and there’s a yell from the door and a thud as something hard hits the wall. I turn to see Kai pressed up against the wall beside the door, his eyes glowing brilliant yellow. Lexington has his hand around Kai’s throat, his fingers digging deep into his skin, a stake pressed sharply into the base of his rib cage.

  “Stop!” I yell, clambering from my chair, darting to their side. I claw at Lexington’s hands. “Kai is a friend.”

  Lexington’s eyes dart to mine, searching for confirmation. They glow brilliant red. “A friend who just walks in in the middle of the night?”

  The clock above the couch reads 1:28. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed as we researched what was going on. “Yes, he’s a friend.”

  “I know this prick isn’t your brother,” Kai growls once Lexington loosens his grip slightly. “What the hell is he doing here?”

  But the insult instantly tightens Lexington’s fingers once more.

  “Let him go,” I say as the adrenaline subsides in my veins. I turn away from them, folding my arms over my chest and shaking my head. I’m instantly reminded why I needed a break from Kai. “This is Lexington Dawes. He’s one of Alivia’s House members.”

  “If I let you go, are you going to keep your mouth shut?” Lexington asks snappily behind me. “About anything you might hear tonight? About our location? About me being here? And generally being an annoying yapper?”

  I look over my shoulder, amazed at how even in this tense situation, Lexington still sounds so casual and sarcastic.

  The look Kai gives him could kill. His eyes brighten, his big, strong hands tightening on Lexington’s. But as strong as Kai is, he’s still no match against a Born.

  “Kai,” I say. “Lexington is here to help. Calm down.”

  It takes too long, but finally he nods. Lexington releases his death grip on Kai’s neck, but keeps the stake pressed to his chest.

  “Elle seems to think you’re good, which is good enough for me, for the most part,” Lexington says. “But I need to hear it from your lips. We good?”

  Kai’s nostrils flare, breathing in and out hard. His fighting nature is taking hold now. But he nods, looking over at me.

  Lexington removes the stake, holding his hands up. But I see the way his shoulders are still tense, the tight grip he keeps on the wood. One wrong move and Lexington will kill him.

  “What are you doing here, Kai?” I ask, taking two steps forward, my arms still crossed over my chest.

  His eyes search me over, looking for damage, as he always does. “I hadn’t heard from you in a few days. I just…” He looks away from me, to Lexington. The look on his face is a mix between disgusted and betrayed. “I got worried after I walked out like that.”

  “I’m fine,” I say simply.

  His jaw tightens as he looks away from Lexington back to me. His hands roll into fists and he clenches and loosens them twice.

  “Were you really that sick of having me around?” he asks. He stands on the balls of his feet, as if to take a step forward, knowing he shouldn’t. “You told me to take the cure, and immediately went and got a replacement?”

  I don’t like emotions. They complicate and twist things. They take the ease out of everything. They make things messy.

  And right now my stomach is in knots. My chest feels tight. And I can’t seem to get my lips to move.

  I feel another gaze on me and my eyes shift to see Lexington watching me. His expression open, studying. I look back at Kai, but still nothing comes out.

  “Looks to me like she doesn’t think she needs to explain herself,” Lexington pipes up. He takes a step forward, placing himself between Kai and I. “And I don’t really know what’s going on between the two of you,
but it’s pretty obvious you don’t know everything that’s going on here, either.”

  “The fact that I don’t have a clue who you are says a lot, uso,” Kai says, taking a step forward. “Maybe she needs a friend here more than she needs whoever you are.”

  “Lexington is a friend,” I cut in, something in me bristling. And I hate everything about this.

  “Look,” Lexington says, taking half a step toward Kai. “You obviously care a lot about Elle. Enough to show up unexpectedly in the middle of the night—”

  “I was just walking by,” Kai says defensively. “I heard a voice inside.”

  Lexington nods. “I get that. You were just being a good…friend.” There’s that uncertainty in his voice that a lot of people get when it comes to Kai and me. “But as you can see, she’s safe. And I don’t know about you, but to me it kind of looks like your current approach is upsetting her.”

  Kai’s eyes dart to mine and I see his expression fall. The distress I don’t want to be feeling must be more obvious on my face than I’m trying to let it be.

  “We both need some time apart to think,” I say evenly. I stare at him, trying so hard to get my message across. “I told you what I think is best. I think that you should take the cure.”

  He shakes his head. “But then I’m useless. Then I’m just…just some guy again. You don’t get to decide what’s best for me, Elle.”

  I take a step forward and Lexington backs up a bit, giving us our space. “Useless is the last thing you would be. A future—a free future, is what you’d have again.”

  His eyes dart over to Lexington and I know that’s all he can see right now: a replacement. And to him, that feels like the ultimate betrayal.

  I meet Lexington’s eyes. “Can you give us a few minutes?”

  I must be learning him quick. I know that look in Lexington’s eyes. See the way they search me. An entire conversation happens in just two seconds with not a word spoken. He makes sure I’m okay, and offers a nod. “Sure.”

  He walks back into the dining room.

  He can still hear everything. But at least he’s out of sight.

  “I’m very sorry if I am hurting you, Kai,” I say. It’s difficult to meet his eyes. “You’ve been wonderful to me over these past nine months. But I can’t let you keep hoping that something is going to happen. You’re my closest friend, but for me…” I shake my head, closing my eyes. I don’t want to have to say the words that come out next. “For me that’s all it is going to be. And I can’t give you the hope that it will change. I have to let you have a life outside of me.”

  Kai bites the inside of his lower lip, studying me. Trying to see if there’s any hesitance to what I’m saying. But he must eventually see that there isn’t.

  “Okay,” he says, his voice broken and defeated. “I’ll think about what you’ve said. You’ve made it pretty clear you don’t feel the same way I feel about you. I guess…I guess I just have to accept that and deal.”

  My heart sinks. I reach a hand out, intending to touch his shoulder, but he side steps it, and I let my hand fall to my side.

  “I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

  He sniffs hard, nodding his head as he presses his lips tightly together. “Me too,” he says. He takes three steps toward the door, reaching for it.

  “I need you to be careful,” I call out before he can leave. “Vampires, Born and Bitten, are realizing they can do whatever they want without the Allaways punishing them. Things are getting ugly. Please, if you hear of anything, or see anything, let me know.”

  He looks once more back toward the kitchen where he knows Lexington is. There’s a whole argument there on the tip of his tongue. But instead, he just nods.

  He walks out the door and shuts it behind him.

  I stare at the door, even after I hear Lexington walk back into the living room and lean in the doorway.

  “I’d ask you if you were okay, but it’s pretty obvious you’re not,” he says quietly. “So how about we watch a movie to get your mind off of things and then get some sleep?”

  I can only stand there for a minute, feeling the muscles in my body slowly relax, one by one. The vice around my throat finally loosens. “That sounds great.”

  I slip through the automatic doors, just behind the doctor who has his nose in a chart. Past three doors I slip before hesitating at a corner. Peering around, I find the nurses station just around it.

  I look back, meeting Lexington’s eyes as he looks through the window in the door I just came through. I tilt my head just a little, pointing to the location of the nurses’ station at the same time the only body at it walks in the opposite direction of me.

  I only make out a tiny blur and feel the wind rustle my hair as he speeds past me. The faint sound of rustling paper draws my eyes to the station.

  In motions I can barely make out, he whips from one chart to the next, searching through records at an insane speed. Finally, a whole seven seconds later, he taps one particular chart.

  He darts to my side, grabbing my hand, and tugging me further down the hall. On silent feet, we make our way down, and stop outside of room 216.

  A machine beeps inside, bags of blood drip into a tube before slipping into the man’s arm.

  Lexington closes the door behind us, and I step up to the man’s side. His skin is ashy, pale, his lips nearly white. Two puncture wounds on his neck are slowly beginning to heal closed.

  His chest rises and falls, gaining speed as I observe him.

  “He’s turning,” I say. I bend over him, pulling one of his eyelids open.

  A brightening yellow surrounds his pupil.

  “Elle, don’t!”

  But the warning comes a second too late.

  The newly awoken Bitten snaps a vice grip hand around my wrist, yanking my arm to his mouth. Newly formed fangs sink into my flesh, and I instantly go numb and still, the blood getting sucked from my arm in deep pulls.

  I blink, trying to clear the fog from my brain, I attempt to fight the vampire’s toxins.

  But not before the fangs are yanked away from my arm. I stumble back, half falling on the floor, half on the bed, as the Bitten goes instantly still. I blink again, my senses coming back to me as I see Lexington pull the needle away.

  “You good?” he asks, rushing to my side and helping me to my feet. I stumble once, falling back into his arms, my head lolling to one side just a bit as I blink fast.

  “Yeah,” I mumble, still recovering. I rest there against his chest for a few moments, finding myself again. “I didn’t realize how far along he was.”

  “I should have reacted faster,” Lexington says, supporting me as I climb to my feet. “Sometimes I forget how fearless you are when it comes to us.”

  I look back at him, and see how genuinely he means it when he makes the statement.

  Fearless.

  I’d never considered the word applicable to myself.

  But he’s right, when it comes to vampires, Born or Bitten, it takes a lot to make me afraid of them.

  I brace my hands on the bed, looking down at the man who now lies there so still. It all happened so quick, he immediately dropped into unconsciousness. He didn’t even have to go through the pain.

  “Can you imagine if we’d gotten here even two minutes later?” I say quietly, watching as the man’s features relax slowly. “He would have woken up, grabbed the first person he could have found, and drained them. He would have exposed himself to the whole hospital.”

  “The Allaways hands-off approach is going to get all of us exposed real quick here,” Lexington says as he rubs his hand over my back, not quite ready to let me stand on my own two feet.

  I nod.

  In the past four weeks that we’ve been tracking the news and listening to police scanners, there’s been another twelve attacks. Over half a dozen online magazines have started talking about the mysterious “animal attacks” that are happening all over the North East.

  This is getting out of ha
nd.

  “I’m tired,” I say, standing straight, feeling my shoulders sag. Lexington immediately steps up, his hands on my shoulders.

  “You need me to carry you back home?” he asks quietly, his lips near my ear.

  I shake my head. “I mean I’m exhausted holding all this. Knowing what’s happening here, what might come. And feeling like I can’t do near enough about it. These are real people, Lexington. They’re all innocent. And Charles is doing nothing to protect them.”

  He turns me in his arms, pulling me into his chest. And it’s the most comforting gesture I think I’ve felt in a very long time.

  I don’t speak the honest truth very often. Don’t expose what’s really on the inside when I’m feeling weak. I’ve stood on my own for so long now. Held myself together. Did everything on my own.

  But in just four weeks, I’ve come to lean on this man. Come to crave the strength he offers.

  “We need to call Liv,” Lexington says gently into my ear. “We need to make a real plan. And I think we need to consider tattling.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask, my brows furrowing as I look up into his blue eyes.

  “I mean,” he says, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I think we need to consider alerting Cyrus that Charles is failing at his job.”

  I shake my head. “Are you crazy?” I take a step back. “The last time he came to the States he had my brother sent to prison for months. He scared Liv into taking her own life. Everything takes a turn for the dark when he’s around, Lexington.”

  He nods his head. “I know,” he says, pushing his hands into his pockets. He hovers on the balls of his feet, like he very much wants to take some kind of action right now. “But Elle, you said it yourself, taking this all on ourselves, just the two of us, it’s exhausting. And it’s not near enough.”

  A noise out in the hall catches my attention, and the next second, Lexington has hauled the two of us into the corner behind the door. It swings open, hiding our location. I hold my breath, nearly impossible to do with my pulse racing like it is. I stand as still as possible, pressed up against Lexington’s back.