Huh, Jackal commented as he emerged from underground, gazing around at the crumbling buildings, the roots and weeds that grew over everything and pushed up through the pavement. This place is a right mess, isnt it? Where is everyone?
Nobody stays out after dark, I muttered as we walked through the weed-tangled ditch, hopped the embankment and strode into the street. Even though the vamps force the Registered humans to give blood every two weeks, and have plenty of bloodslaves in the Inner City, they still go hunting sometimes.
Of course they do, Jackal said, as if that was obvious. What fun is feeding from bloodbags you dont catch yourself? Its like having a stocked lake and never fishing from it.
I ignored that comment, nodding to the very center of the city, where the three vampire towers were lit up against the night sky. Thats where the Prince lives. Him and his coven. They never come down to the Fringe. At least, I never saw them when I lived here.
Jackal grunted, following my gaze. According to vampire law, as visitors to the city, were supposed to check in with the Prince, he muttered. Tell him where were from, what our business is here, how long were staying. He snorted and curled a lip. I dont really feel like playing by the little Princes rules, and normally I would say the hell with it, but thats going to be a problem now, isnt it?
Yeah, I agreed. I could feel the pull that drew me toward my sire. It was faint now, flickering erratically, as if Kanin was barely hanging on to life, but it still pulled at me, right toward the three towers in the center of New Covington. Hes in the Inner City. I sighed.
Yep. And well probably run into Salazars men while were there. Could make searching for Kanin challenging if they decide we dont belong. Jackal grimaced as if speaking from experience. Princes tend to be irrationally paranoid about strange vamps in their cities.
Well just have to take that chance. I gazed at the vampire towers and narrowed my eyes. Salazar tried to kill Kanin and me both after he found us in the city. Jackal snickered, and I scowled at him. He wont be too fond of you, either, because youre Kanins blood. He hates Kanin with a vengeance.
Everyone hates Kanin, Jackal said with a shrug. All the old Masters know what he did, what he helped create. If we say were looking for him, Salazar will probably assume we want to kill him. He doesnt have to know the truth.
And what if he decides he wants to come with us and do the honors himself?
Salazar is a Master. Jackal smiled evilly. It would be helpful to have a Master around when we run into Sarrenthey can tear each other to pieces, and we can sneak out with Kanin. If were lucky, theyll kill each other. If not He shrugged. Then well just finish off the survivor when hes distracted.
I dont like it.
Why does that not surprise me? Jackals voice was flat. What, exactly, is tripping you up here, sister? Having the Prince help us? Letting him fight our psychotically murderous vampire friend? Or is it the whole kick him when hes down thing thats tweaking your conscience? He shook his head. Dont be so bloody naive. Salazar is a vampire, one whos lived a very long time and has become a Prince the old-fashioned wayby killing all his competition. Hell do exactly the same to us if he has the chance. He bared his fangs. And you are going to have to start thinking like a vampire, my dear little sister, or youre never going to survive this world.
His words had an eerily familiar ring to them. Id told Zeke Crosse the same thing once, that the world was harsh and unmerciful, and he wasnt going to survive if he didnt see it for what it was.
All right, I snarled. Fine. Lets go see the Prince, but Im not spending any more time with him than we have to. Were here for Kanin, nothing else.
Finally. Jackal rolled his eyes. The shrew can see reason after all. Bristling, I was about to tell him what he could do with his reason, when a noise stopped me. A soft noise. One that, for whatever reason, raised the hair on the back of my neck.
We both turned to see a lone figure staggering down the street toward us.
CHAPTER 6
The human moved like it was drunkshuffling, swaying from side to side, nearly tripping over its own feet. It would hit a car or the side of a building and lurch back, staggering and confused. I gave a soft growl, resisting the urge to pull away. Maybe because it reminded me of the animals bitten by rabids: stumbling around one moment, trying to eat your face off the next. Or maybe because there was just something off about it. Humans, even drunk humans, never ventured out this late at night. Save for a few of the more vicious gangs (and one very stubborn street rat who, incidentally, was no longer alive), all residents of New Covington fled inside when the sun went down. They had nothing to fear from rabids, of course, but wander the streets after dark, and you were just begging to be noticed by a vampire out hunting for live prey.
As the human drew closer, pawing blindly at its face, it tripped over a curb and fell, striking its head on the pavement. I saw its skull bounce on the asphalt, and the body collapse, twitching and gasping, in the gutter. At first, I thought it was dead, or at least dying.
Then, I realized it was laughing.
Nice. Bloodbags either too drunk to live or has gone right off the deep end, Jackal said, in what wouldve been a conversational tone if his fangs hadnt been showing through his gums. I dont know whether to laugh or put it out of its misery.
At his voice, the human raised its head, regarding us with eyes that were as blank and glassy as a mirror. It was a woman, though it had been difficult to tell at first. Her hair had either been cut or torn out, as the top of her head was sticky with blood. Long gashes ran down both sides of her face, bleeding freely over her skin, but she didnt seem to notice the open wounds.
I resisted the urge to take several steps back. Are you all right? I asked, ignoring Jackal, who snorted. Youre hurt. What happened?
The woman stared at me a second before her face contorted in a gaping, laughing scream. Baring bloodstained teeth, she lurched to her feet and charged me, swinging her arms. I leaped aside, and she ran headfirst into a cement wall, hitting the bricks with a muffled thump and reeling back. Shaking her head, she turned, spotting me through the curtain of blood running down her face, and shrieked with laughter.
As she lurched forward again, I drew my sword. At the sight of the weapon, she paused, still giggling, and suddenly clawed at her face, tearing open the already bleeding scars. More dark blood oozed down her cheeks.
Is it someone new? she rasped, making my skin crawl. Someone new, to make the burning stop?
What the hell? Jackal began, just as she lunged again, howling. Again, I dodged, but she followed me this time, swinging and flailing in complete abandon.
Back off! I snarled at her, baring my teeth. But the sight of fangs seemed to incense the human further. With a screech, she leaped, swiping at my face. I ducked her wild slashing and drove my sword hilt between her eyes, knocking her off her feet.
The human fell backward, her skull giving a faint crack as it hit the pavement again. She twitched, moaning, but didnt get up. Stepping past her body, I shot Jackal an evil look.
The human fell backward, her skull giving a faint crack as it hit the pavement again. She twitched, moaning, but didnt get up. Stepping past her body, I shot Jackal an evil look.
Thanks for the help, I growled, and he smirked back.
Hey, I am forbidden to kill any more bloodbags. Jackal crossed his arms and peered down at me, enjoying himself. You were the one who told me to stop killing indiscriminately. Im just following orders, here.
I bristled. You can be such a
The woman screamed and, this time, I reacted on instinct, spinning around. As the human lunged for me, my blade sliced through ribs and out the other side, nearly cutting her in two. The body struck the curb with a wet splat, and though it thrashed and spasmed for a while as we watched it warily, it did not rise again.
Jackal and I exchanged a look as the body finally stopped moving. The night seemed deathly quiet and still.
Okay. My blood brother nudged the corpses leg with the toe of his boot. It flopped limply. Thats something completely new. Any guesses as to what that was all about?
I peered down at the body, though I certainly wasnt going to touch it. Maybe a rabid got in somehow, I mused. Maybe thats why they shut down the city.
Jackal shook his head. This wasnt a rabid. Look at it. He nudged the body, harder this time, flipping it over. He was right, and I had known it wasnt a rabid from the beginning. The rabids were pale, emaciated things, with blank white eyes, hooked fingernails and a mouthful of jagged fangs. This wasnt a rabid corpse. It looked perfectly human, except for the deep gouges down its cheek, and the wild, bulging stare.
Smells human, too, Jackal added, taking a slow breath before wrinkling his nose. Or at least, she doesnt smell dead. Not like they do. Though she mustve been pumping herself full of something good, the way she put a hole through those bricks. He nodded at the cement wall, where the cracked indentation of a human skull sat in the middle of a bloody smear. What did the crazy say to you? Something about making the burning stop?
Jackal, I growled, lifting my sword again. My blood brother looked up, following my gaze, and his eyes narrowed.
Across the street, two more humans shambled from a skeletal building, heads and faces torn, bright mad gazes searching the road. They muttered in low, harsh voices, garbled nonsense with only a few recognizable words. One of them held a lead pipe, which he banged on a line of dead cars as he crossed the street. Glass shattered and metal crumpled with hollow booms, ringing into the silence.
And then, another human emerged from an alleyway, followed by a friend.
And another.
And another.
More torn, bloody faces. More glassy eyes and mad, wild laughter, echoing all around us. The mob of humans hadnt seen us yet, but they were steadily drawing closer, and there were a lot of them. Their raspy voices slithered off the stones and rose into the air, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Vampire or no, I did not want to fight my way through that.
I snuck a glance at Jackal and saw that, for once, he was thinking the same. He jerked his head toward a building, and we quickly slipped away, ducking through a shattered window into the gutted remains of an old store. Dust and cobwebs clung to everything, and the floor was littered with rubble and glass, though the shelves were bare. Anything useful had been ripped out and taken long ago.
Outside the windows, the mob shambled about aimlessly. Sometimes they yelled at each other or no one, waving crude weapons at things that werent there. Sometimes they shrieked and laughed and clawed at themselves, leaving deep bloody furrows across their skin. Once, a man fell to his knees and beat his head against the pavement until he collapsed, moaning, to the curb.
Well, Jackal said with a brief flash of fangs, this whole city has gone right to hell, hasnt it? He shot me a dangerous look as we pressed farther into the building, speaking in harsh whispers. I dont suppose the population was like this when you were here last, were they?
I shivered and shook my head. No.
Nice. Well, if were going to pay a visit to old Salazar, we need to hurry, Jackal said, glancing at the sky through the windows. Suns coming up, and I dont particularly want to be stuck here with a mob of bat-shit-crazy bloodbags.
For once, I agreed wholeheartedly.
Silently, we made our way through the Fringe, ducking into shadows and behind walls, leaping onto roofs or through windows, trying to avoid the crowds of moaning, laughing, crazy humans wandering the streets.
This way, I hissed, and darted through a hole into an apartment building. The narrow corridors of the apartments were filled with rock and broken beams but were still fairly easy to navigate. Being inside brought back memories; when Id lived here, Id often taken this shortcut to the district square.
A moan drifted out of a hallway, stopping us. Sliding up against the wall, Jackal peered around a corner then quickly drew back, motioning for me to do the same. We both melted into the shadows, becoming vampire still, and waited.
A human staggered by, clutching a length of wood in one hand. He passed uncomfortably close, and I saw that he had clawed at his face until his eye had come out. Pausing, he glanced our way, but either it was too dark or his face was too ravaged for him to see clearly, for he turned his head and continued walking.
Suddenly, the one-eyed human staggered, dropping his club. Gagging, he fell to his hands and knees, heaving and gasping as if he couldnt catch his breath. Red foam bubbled from his mouth and nose, dripping to the ground beneath him. Finally, with a desperate choking sound, the human collapsed, twitched weakly for a moment and then stopped moving.
Jackal straightened, muttering a low, savage curse. Oh, damn, he growled, more serious then Id ever heard him sound. Thats why the city is locked down.
What? I asked, tearing my gaze away from the dead human. Whats going on? What is this? Jackal stared at the human, then turned to face me.
Red Lung, he said, making my blood freeze. What you saw right there, those are the final symptoms of the Red Lung virus. Without the crazy muttering and tearing the eyes out, anyway. He shook his head violently, as if remembering. Ive never seen it, but Kanin told me how it worked. The infected humans would bleed internally, and eventually they would drown in their own blood, trying to throw up their organs. Nasty way to go, even for the bloodbags.
Dread gripped me. I glanced back at the body lying motionless in the hall, in the weeds poking through the floor, and felt cold. I remembered what Kanin had told me once, in the hidden lab when I first became a vampire. Id asked him about the virus, why there was no Red Lung in the world anymore, if the scientists had found a cure. Hed given a bitter smile.
No, Kanin said. Red Lung was never cured. The Red Lung virus mutated when the rabids were born. Thats how Rabidism spread so quickly. It was an airborne pathogen, just like Red Lung, only instead of getting sick and dying, people turned into rabids. He shook his head, looking grave. Some people survived, obviously, and passed on their immunities, which is why the world isnt full of rabids and nothing else. But there was no cure for Red Lung. The rabids destroyed that hope when they were created and escaped.