"You don't have to be a murdering bastard to be a vampire."
Jackal snorted. "You don't believe that," he mocked. "Not even Kanin believed that, and he was the biggest softhearted prick I ever came across. Before you, anyway." He sneered at my dark look. "But, go ahead. Keep telling yourself your pretty little lies. I just hope I'm there when it all comes crashing down around you."
We'd reached the end of the hall, and I pulled open the rusty metal door that led to the basement. Memories continued to haunt me as I made my way down the stairs, into the cement walled rooms of the school's lowest floor. This was where the gang and I had retreated whenever there was trouble-a rival gang, a vampire in the area, an unexpected patrol. The door could be barred from the inside, and the thick walls and floor made it hard for anything to get at us. Of course, now that I was a vampire, it was chilling to realize how easily I could have blown through that flimsy barrier, locked or not. And with no other way out of the basement, whoever came down here would be trapped.
Shutting the door, I let the bar clang into place. Hopefully, the crazies outside were not as strong as a vampire, because sleep was clawing at the edges of my mind. Jackal, gripping the railing like he, too, was in danger of falling over, looked around the dark, cold room.
"Where exactly do you expect us to sleep?"
"I don't care," I slurred, moving carefully down the steps. "Pick a corner. Just leave me alone." I found the spot behind several low-hanging pipes where I'd kept a ratty quilt for myself, and found it was still there. Drawing it over my shoulders, I sat down with my back to the corner and unsheathed my sword beneath the quilt. When we were traveling, we'd separated at dawn to bury ourselves in the frozen earth, hidden and safe from each other. Having him in the same room with me as I lay exposed and helpless made me nervous.
Jackal was still wandering around, looking for a place to lie down. I stayed awake as long as I could, listening to his footsteps, waiting for him to find a spot. I forced myself to keep my eyes open, fighting the sluggish pull threatening to draw me under, until the noises ceased.
Finally. Leaning my head against the wall, I let my eyes slip shut, and had just started to relax when his dark chuckle echoed out of the darkness.
"I know you're still awake."
"Good for you. Shut up and go to sleep."
Another snicker. "What you have to ask yourself," he continued, "is whether I'm the type who would stay awake long enough to kill you after you fall asleep, or if I'm an early riser who would kill you before you wake up."
"If you want your head to stay on your neck, you'd better be neither," I growled, though his words sent a cold spear of dread through my stomach. My hands tightened on my sword hilt, and Jackal laughed somewhere in the darkness, unseen.
"I'm just kidding, sis," he said. "Or am I? Something to think about, before you fall asleep. Nighty-night, then. Sleep tight."
I struggled to stay awake awhile longer, knowing I was playing right into Jackal's twisted sense of humor, yet unable to stop myself. I couldn't see Jackal, couldn't hear him, so I didn't know if he had already fallen asleep, if he was lying awake snickering to himself, or if he was waiting for me to drift off so he could creep over and quietly rip off my head.
I really, really hate him, was my last thought before I finally succumbed to the inevitable blackness.
Chapter 7
Hunger.
Nothing exists but Hunger.
There is no food here. No food, just stone and steel and darkness. Bars around me, chains on my wrists, pulling me to the wall. Can't move, can't stay here. Need to hunt, need food, prey, blood!
No.
No, calm yourself, Kanin. Think. You felt them, when you woke up. They're here. Both of them. The girl and the lost one. What are their names? Can't remember.
So Hungry.
"Welcome back, old friend."
Movement beyond the bars. He is here; I can feel his cold black eyes on me, sense his smile. I growl, the noise vibrating around us, low and threatening. I hear his hissing chuckle.
"Can you hear it?" His face floats between the bars, eyes closed, as if listening to music somewhere above us. "Can you hear the screams? Smell the fear, the taint of despair? This is only the beginning, you know. Only the first test. And we are in the perfect place to watch everything unravel." He opens his eyes, smiling at me. "Oh, but I can feel the Hunger in you, old friend. It's eating you alive, isn't it? Sadly, your fate is no longer in my hands."
I lean forward, trying to reach him, to pull him through the bars and tear him in half. The shackles bite into my wrists, holding me back. He chuckles again, then draws away, pale face melting into the shadows beyond the cell.
"Goodbye, Kanin. I've enjoyed the times we had, but now, I have a greater purpose. I know you will not think of me much beyond this, but I will remember you. I will remember you most fondly. Farewell, old friend."
I opened my eyes, then jerked back, bashing my head against the concrete. Jackal was crouched in front of me, a faint smirk on his face, his eyes narrowed and contemplative. I brandished my sword in a flash of steel and fangs, but he leaped back, the blade missing him by centimeters.
"Dammit, Jackal!" I surged upright, keeping my weapon between me and the sadistic raider king. "What are you trying to pull? Do that again and I'll cut that stupid grin of yours in half!"
"Too easy, sister." Jackal's smirk widened, showing fangs. "You're far too trusting. I could have twisted your little head right off your neck, and you wouldn't have felt a thing." He demonstrated with his hands, then shook his head in mock disappointment. "You've got a lot to learn, I'm afraid."
"Well, you won't be the one teaching me." I sheathed my sword and turned away, still bristling from having him that close. Sadistic, obnoxious vampire. He got under my skin sometimes, but that was probably what he wanted, to keep me off balance, on edge. A sick game he liked to play.
"Or maybe," Jackal added, "you're just feeling sluggish because you didn't sleep well. Bad dreams?" When I looked at him sharply, he nodded, serious for once. "You saw him, too, didn't you? The old bastard is still hanging on."
"Yeah." I let myself feel that tiny sliver of hope, of relief. "He's still alive."
"Yep. Looks like Sarren brought him out of hibernation after all. Tough old geezer-some of us never come out of it."
"Any idea where he could be? It looked like he was underground somewhere, maybe a prison or a..."
I trailed off, frowning. Jackal started to reply, but I held up my hand, stopping him. Soft shuffling noises drifted to me across the room, coming from outside the barred door. I jerked my head at the entrance just as the handle turned and the door shook, as if something was trying to force its way inside.
Silently, I readied my sword, and Jackal picked up a rusty lead pipe from the floor, not bothering to return to wherever he had slept for his ax. At my nod, he glided up the steps and put his hand under the bar, looking back at me. I inched up, raising my sword, and nodded for him to open it.
Jackal wrenched off the bar and threw open the door. I lunged forward, sweeping my blade down, expecting to see a bloody-faced lunatic on the other side.
Something yelped and threw itself backward, and I pulled my blow up short, barely stopping in time. The body landed in an ungainly sprawl on the floor, a ragged human with shaggy brown hair and huge dark eyes. I felt a brief, faint stab of recognition, like I should know him from somewhere, but I couldn't place it. He gaped at us, fear and horror spreading across his face, before he scrambled away like a thin, ragged spider, arms and legs pumping frantically.
Jackal lunged past me, grabbed the kid by his ragged shirt and hauled him off his feet. "Where do you think you're going, little rat?" He yanked him back into the room. The kid howled, flailing wildly, and Jackal shook him once, hard enough that his head jerked back on his neck. "Hey now. None of that god-awful screeching. You'll attract the crazies wandering around out there. Wouldn't want to have to rip your tongue out through your teeth, would we?"
"Jackal," I snapped, closing the door and stalking back into the room. "Let him go."
He gave me a bored look, then dropped the gasping human unceremoniously on the floor. The kid, probably no more than thirteen, if I had to guess, scuttled backward until he hit a wall, then continued to gape at us with huge, terrified eyes.
"Take it easy," I said, stepping toward him slowly, ignoring the sudden flare of Hunger. The demon within growled impatiently, urging me to pounce on this boy and feed, but I forced it back. I recognized the skinny frame, the rags, the way his eyes darted everywhere, looking for a way out. He was an Unregistered. Just like I had been.
"Relax," I told him again, trying to sound calm and reasonable. "We're not going to hurt you, or...eat you. Just calm down."
"Oh, shit!" he panted, pressing himself to the corner, his gaze riveted on me. "It's true, then! That kid wasn't lying. You're her! You really did become a vampire!"
I stared at him. "How did you-?"
It hit me then, where I knew this boy from. He wasn't just a random street rat, he was part of Kyle's gang, a group of rival Unregistereds who had lived within our sector and scavenged the same territories. I'd seen him in passing a few times when I'd been human; the Unregistered gangs of the Fringe did not mingle and usually left each other alone. We weren't enemies, exactly. We'd warn other Unregistereds of sweeps and patrols, and if another group was scavenging a particular territory, we'd avoid that section for a day or two. But in our section of the Fringe, Kyle's gang had been our biggest competition for food and resources, and the truce between us had been tense in those final few days.
Of course, they must've been thrilled when they heard we were all killed by rabids. Myself included. Even if I didn't truly die, I could no longer be a part of that world. Their competition was gone. None of us had made it back to the city alive.
Except for one.
"Stick," I whispered, and stepped forward, advancing on the human. He cringed, looking terrified, but I didn't care anymore. "That kid you're talking about," I demanded, "was his name Stick? What happened to him? Is he still around?"
Is he still alive?
"That little pisswad?" The boy curled his lip, pure disgust filtering through the terror for a moment. "Nah, he's not around here anymore. He's gone. No one's seen him since the night you attacked our hideout."
I wasn't attacking your hideout, I wanted to say. I was just looking for Stick. But I knew the human wouldn't believe me. And besides, it didn't matter now. Stick was gone. The boy I'd looked after nearly half my life, the person I'd thought was my friend when I was human, had sold me out to the Prince when he'd discovered what I was. Kanin had cautioned me not to go after him, not to see him again, but I'd ignored his warnings and tried to contact my sole remaining crew member one last time.
I really should've known better. Stick had taken one look at what I was, screamed in terror and run away. Straight to the Prince and his followers, apparently. As if all our years of friendship, all those times I'd risked my neck for him, kept him safe, kept him fed and alive at my own expense, meant nothing.