You couldnt have told me all this without slicing my arm open?
I could have. Kanin shrugged unrepentantly. But I had another lesson in mind. How do you feel?
Starving. The ache in my gut had grown more painful; my body was crying out for food. I thought longingly of the once-full blood bag, lying empty on the floor. I wondered if there was anything left that I could suck out, before I caught myself in horror.
Kanin nodded. And that is the price of such power. Your body will heal itself from most anything, but it will draw upon its own reserves to do so. Look at your arm.
I did and gasped. My skin, especially the area where Kanin had cut me, was chalk-white, definitely paler than before, and cold. Dead flesh. Bloodless flesh. I shuddered and tore my gaze away, and felt the vampires smile.
If you do not feed soon afterward, you will fall into a blood frenzy, and someone will die, he announced. The greater the wound, the more blood you need to replenish it. Go too long without feeding, and the result will be the same. And this is why vampires do not become attached to humans, or anyone. Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. Accidentally or as a conscious, deliberate act. It is unavoidable. The question is not if it will happen, but when. Do you understand?
Yeah, I muttered. I got it.
He watched me with depthless black eyes. Be sure that you do, he said quietly. Now, from here, you must learn the most important part of being one of ushow to feed.
I swallowed. Dont you have any more of those bags?
He chuckled. I procured that from one of the guards at this weeks bloodletting. Its not something Id normally do, but you needed food immediately upon waking. But you and I are not like the vampires in the city, with their slaves and pets and cellars of wine. If you want to feed, you must do it the old-fashioned way. Ill show you what I mean. Come, follow me.
Where are we going? I asked as he opened the door, and we stepped out into a long, narrow hallway. Once-white paint was peeling from the walls, and glass crunched under my feet as we walked. Every few yards, a doorway opened into another room, the remains of beds and chairs and odd machines I didnt recognize scattered about and broken. A strange chair with wheels lay on its side in one doorway, covered in dust and cobwebs. I realized I could see perfectly in the dark corridor, though there was no light, and it shouldve been pitch-black down here. Kanin looked back at me and smiled.
Were going hunting.
WE TURNED A CORNER, and the hallway opened into what looked like an old reception area with another big wooden desk in the middle of the room. Above the desk, tarnished gold letters hung on the wall, most of them skewed or broken, so it was impossible to make out what it had once said. There were a lot of smaller signs, too, on walls and at the entrances to hallways, all difficult to make out. Glass, debris and sheets of paper were scattered about the cracked tile floor, rustling where we walked.
What is this place? I asked Kanin. My voice echoed weirdly in the open chamber, and the silence of the room seemed to press down on me. The vampire didnt answer for a long moment.
At one time, he murmured, leading me across the room, this was the sublevel of a hospital. One of the busiest and most well established in the city. They did more than treat patientsthere was a team of scientists here, researchers committed to ending disease and discovering new cures. Of course, when the Red Lung virus hit, the hospital was overrunthey couldnt keep up with the amount of patients pouring through their doors. A lot of people died here. He gazed at the desk, his eyes hooded and far away. But then, a lot of people died everywhere.
If youre trying to creep me out, congratulations. So, how do we get out of here?
He stopped at a large, square hole in the wall and gestured at the opening. I peered through the gap and saw a long shaft, leading up into darkness, with thick metal ropes dangling from somewhere up top.
Youre kidding, right? My voice echoed up the tube.
The stairs to ground level are collapsed, Kanin replied calmly. There is no other way in or out. We have to use the elevator shaft.
Elevator shaft? I frowned and looked back at him. Theres no way I can climb that.
You arent human anymore. He narrowed his eyes. Youre stronger, you have unlimited endurance and you can do things humans cannot. If it puts your mind at ease, I will be right behind you.
I looked at the elevator tube and shrugged. All right, I muttered, reaching out to grab the cables. But if I fall, I expect you to catch me.
Tightening my hold, I pulled.
To my surprise, my body rose off the ground as if I weighed nothing at all. I shimmied up the tube, going hand over hand, feeling a thrill Id never known. My skin didnt tear, my arms didnt burn, and I wasnt even breathing hard. I couldve done this forever.
I paused, my rhythm stumbling to a halt. I wasnt breathing. At all. My pulse didnt race, my heart didnt pound because I wasnt alive. I was dead. I would never age, never change. I was a parasitic corpse who drank the lifeblood of others to survive.
Having problems? Kanins deep, impatient voice echoed from below me.
I shook myself. Empty elevator tubes were not the best places for personal revelations. Im fine, I answered and started climbing again. I would sort all this out later; right now, my dead-corpse stomach was telling me I was starving. I found it very strange that my heart and lungs and other organs didnt work, but my stomach and brain were still functioning. Or maybe they werentI had no idea. Everything about vampires, I was learning, was a complete mystery.
A cold breeze hit my face as I scrambled out of the shaft, gazing around warily.
There had been a building here once. I could see the remains of steel beams and girders surrounding us, along with maybe half a wall, falling to pieces in the long yellow grass. The plaster was blackened and scorched, and charred bits of furniturebeds, mattresses, chairswere strewn about and half hidden in the grass spreading across the floor. The tube wed just come through was nothing more than a dark hole in the tile, hidden among the rubble and weeds. If you werent standing directly above it, you might never see the gaping hole until you tumbled down the shaft and broke your spine at the bottom.
What happened here? I whispered, gazing around at the devastation.
A fire, Kanin said, starting across the empty lot. He moved quickly, and I scrambled to keep up with him. It started on the ground floor of the hospital. It quickly grew out of control and destroyed the building and most everyone inside. Only the lower levels were spared.
Were you there when it happened?
Kanin didnt answer. Leaving the hospital ruins, we crossed an empty lot where nature had risen up to strangle everything it could get its green-and-yellow claws around. It pushed up through the once-flat parking lots and curled around several outbuildings, choking them with vines and weeds. When we reached the edge of the lot and looked back, you could barely see the hospital remains through the vegetation.
It was dark on the streets of the Fringe. Clouds scuttled across the sky, blocking the moon and stars. But I still saw everything clearly, and even more amazing, I knew exactly what time it was and how long we had until dawn. I could sense the blood on the air, the lingering heat of warm-blooded mammals. It was an hour past midnight, long after the bravest humans closed their doors against the dark, and I was starving.
It was dark on the streets of the Fringe. Clouds scuttled across the sky, blocking the moon and stars. But I still saw everything clearly, and even more amazing, I knew exactly what time it was and how long we had until dawn. I could sense the blood on the air, the lingering heat of warm-blooded mammals. It was an hour past midnight, long after the bravest humans closed their doors against the dark, and I was starving.
This way, Kanin murmured and glided into the shadows.
I didnt argue, following him down a long, dark alleyway, subtly aware that something was different, though I couldnt put my finger on it.
Then it hit me. The smell. All my life, I had grown up with the smells of the Fringe: the garbage, the waste, the aroma of mold and rot and decay. I couldnt smell any of that now. Perhaps because smelling and breathing were so closely linked. My other senses were heightened: I could hear the scuttle of a mouse, scrambling into its hole a dozen yards away. I could feel the wind on my arms, cold and clammy, though my skin didnt respond as it should and pucker with goose bumps. But when we passed an ancient Dumpster and I felt the buzz of flies from within, heard maggots writhing through dead, rotting fleshof an animal I hopedI still couldnt smell anything.
When I mentioned this to Kanin, he gave a humorless chuckle.
You can smell, if you want to, he replied, weaving around a pile of shingles that once belonged to a roof. You just have to make a conscious effort to take a breath. Its not a natural thing anymore because we dont need to do it. Youll want to remember that if theres a situation where youre trying to blend in. Humans are usually unobservant, but even they will know something is wrong if you dont appear to be breathing.
I took a breath and caught the stench of decay from the Dumpster. I also smelled something else on the wind: blood. And then I saw a splash of paint across a crumbling walla skull with a pair of red wings on either sideand I realized where we were.
This is gang territory, I said, horrified. Thats the sign for the Blood Angels.
Yes, said Kanin calmly.
I resisted the instinct to scramble away from him, to flee into the nearest alleyway and head for home. Vampires werent the only predators to roam the city streets. And scavengers werent the only groups to stake their territories in the Fringe. While some Unregistereds were simply thieves, bands of kids looking to survive, there were other, more sinister groups. Reapers, Red Skulls, Blood Angels: these were only a few of the other gangs that had carved out certain parts of the Fringe for themselves. In this world, the only law was to obey the Masters, and the Masters didnt care if their cattle occasionally turned on each other. Run into a bored, hungry gang, and youd be lucky if all they did was kill you. Id heard stories of certain gangs who, after having their fun with a trespasser, would slice them up and eat them, as well. Urban legends, of course, but who was I to say they werent true? That was why venturing out of familiar territory was a bad idea at best, suicidal at worst. I knew which parts of the Fringe were gang turf and had avoided them like the plague.
And now we were walking right into their territory.
I eyed the vampire at my side. You know theyre going to kill us for being here.
He nodded. Im counting on it.
You know that they eat people, right?
Kanin stopped, turning to me with intense black eyes. So do I, he said evenly. And now, so do you.
I felt slightly sick. Oh, yeah.
The smell of blood was getting stronger, and now I could hear the familiar sounds of a fight: cursing, shouting, the smacks of fists and shoes on flesh. We turned a corner and entered the back lot between several buildings, surrounded by chain-link, broken glass and rusting cars. Graffiti covered the crumbling bricks and metal walls, and several steel drums burned around the perimeter, billowing a thick, choking smoke.
In the center of the arena, a group of ragged, similarly dressed thugs clustered around a crumpled form on the pavement. The body was curled into a fetal position, covering its head, while two or three thugs broke away from the circle to punch or kick at it. Another body lay nearby, disturbingly still, its face smashed beyond recognition. My gut twisted at the sight of the broken nose and staring eyes. But then the scent of blood came to me, stronger than ever, and I growled low in my throat before I realized Id made a sound.
The gang members were laughing too loud to hear and were too focused on their sport to notice us, but Kanin kept walking forward. Calmly, as if out for a late-night stroll, he approached the ring of humans, making no sound whatsoever. We couldve sauntered right past them and continued into the night, but as we neared the circle of thugs, who still hadnt noticed us, he deliberately kicked a broken bottle, sending it clinking and tumbling over the pavement.
And the Blood Angels looked up.
Good evening, Kanin said, nodding cordially. He continued to walk past them, moving at a slower pace, I noted. I followed silently, trying to be invisible, hoping the gang would just let us go without a challenge.
But part of me, the strange, alien, hungry part, watched the humans eagerly and hoped they would try to stop us.
It got its wish. With muffled curses, the whole group moved to block our path. Kanin stopped and watched impassively as a thug with a scar over one pale eye stepped forward, shaking his head.
Look at this, he said, grinning at Kanin, then me. Lucky night for us, aint it, boys?
Kanin didnt say anything. I wondered if he was afraid speaking to them would clue them in to what he was; he didnt want to scare away our food.
Look at himso scared he cant even talk. Derisive laughter all around. Shoulda thought of that before you came through our turf, pet. Scar-face stepped forward, the jeers and insults of his gang backing him up. Gonna drop your pants so we can kiss your shiny ass, is that what you want, pet? He spat the word, before his gaze flicked to me, and his leer turned ugly. Or maybe Ill just save it for that sweet little Asian doll. We dont get many whores through here, do we, boys?
I snarled, feeling my lips curl back. Bring your cesspit mouth anywhere near me and Ill tear it off, I spat at him. The gang hooted and edged closer.
Ooh, shes a feisty one, aint she? Scar-face grinned. I hope theres enough of that to go around. You dont mind sharing, do you, pet?
Be my guest, Kanin said and stepped away from me. I gaped at him as Scar-face and his gang exploded with eager, taunting laughter.
Pets so scared, he pissed his pants!
Thats a real man, hiding behind a girl!
Hey, thanks, pet, Scar-face called, his mouth split into a truly evil grin. Im so touched, Im gonna let you go this time. Thanks for the Asian doll! Well try not to break her, too quickly.
What are you doing? I hissed, betrayed. The thugs stalked forward, grinning, and I backed up, keeping them in my sights while glaring at the vampire. What about all that talk of teaching and preparing me and all that crap? What, youre just going to throw me to the wolves now?
Your sense of predator and prey is backward, the vampire said in a low voice, so that only I could hear. I wanted to throw something at him, but the approaching gang members were more of a problem. The raw lust in their eyes made me feel sick, and I felt a snarl rising in my throat. This will show you exactly where you stand on the food chain.