15
Zoey
“Of course we’ll help you!” Damien gushed. Moving forward he stepped in front of me to take Jack into his arms. He managed to reach Jack and even embraced him awkwardly.
I saw the change happen as soon as Jack’s face got close to the soft skin on the side of Damien’s neck. His eyes glowed. He pulled his lips back in a snarl and opened his mouth impossibly wide, showing teeth dripping saliva and a too-red tongue.
“No!” Stark shouted, wrenching the two of them apart, and shoving Jack down into a seat. Then he rounded on Damien. “Have you not been paying attention? This is not your Jack. Damnit, Damien! Sniff him.”
“Would you care how Zoey smelled?” Damien said.
“No. Yes.” Stark sighed. “No, I wouldn’t care because I’d still love her, but yes, I would pay attention to her scent because it means something’s wrong.”
“Listen to him, Damien,” Jack said. His voice was rough. His eyes still glowed red. “You have to stay away from me. Your blood isn’t as sweet as a human’s, but I can’t always control myself, especially when I get hungry.”
“How often do you get hungry?” I asked. I mean, he’d just sucked down a big blood smoothie back in the basement.
“All the time,” Stevie Rae answered for him. “Right, Stark?”
Stark nodded solemnly. “She’s right. We understand how he feels. He might try—emphasis on the might—but it’s still hard to control his thirst for blood.”
“Not just blood,” Jack spoke slowly, as if forming the words had become difficult. “Living meat. I crave it, too.”
“Ohmygoodness,” Stevie Rae gasped. “You’re cannibals?”
“Not vampyres or fledglings. Not if we don’t have to. Humans. We eat humans.”
“Like that’s any less disgusting?” Stevie Rae said.
Jack’s hand was shaking as he wiped away the red tears that stained his cheeks. “I need—I need to feed. Can’t concentrate.”
“Rephaim, go find Shaunee. She was supposed to be bringing him another smoothie. We’re going to take Other Jack back to his room in the basement. Get the blood—a lot of blood—and take it to his room down there. Now.”
Rephaim shot out of the auditorium. I faced Jack. “We’re going to get you more blood. Actually, we’ll keep you in all the blood you can drink, but not flesh. Not human flesh. Never. Do you understand?”
He nodded.
“Can you control yourself enough to walk back to the basement?” I steeled myself and continued in a hard voice totally devoid of emotion. “Because if you can’t Aphrodite is going to taze you unconscious again and Stark will carry you.”
“I can do it.”
“Do not think I’m kidding. You threaten my people and you will be stopped.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? I’m holding the Taser and I’m the closest to a human in this room. You look sideways at any of us, and I’m going to zap you. Sorry, Damien,” Aphrodite said.
Damien hung his head and wiped his eyes with a shaky hand. I knew what Jack had just done—just said—had shaken him to his core. I had to be strong for him. We all did.
“Yes. I understand perfectly,” Jack said.
“Good. Let’s go. We have a lot of questions and we need answers right away,” I said. “Aphrodite and Stevie Rae, please gather the professors in our dining hall and update them on everything we know so far. Lenobia, please go to the infirmary and warn them that there is a probability that they’re going to have incoming.”
“On my way, High Priestess,” Lenobia said, hurrying from the auditorium.
“Hey, don’t you want me to come to the basement with you? You might need me to deal with the cannibal.” Aphrodite gestured at Jack with the Taser.
“Thanks, but I think Stark, Damien, and I can handle it.”
“Want to take this with you?” She offered me the Taser.
“Nah, she has me,” Stark said.
“So, you want to take this, right?” Aphrodite said, rolling her eyes at Stark.
I stifled a grin. “Keep it. You never know when you might need it.”
Totally serious, Aphrodite nodded. “You’re right about that. And here’s a little secret: I enjoyed the hell out of using it.”
“Oh, Aphrodite,” Stark said. “That’s no secret.”
Jack sucked down three full glasses of blood before his eyes stopped glowing.
“Why so much?” I asked. “You seemed okay after just one glass before.”
Jack wiped his mouth delicately on the back of his sleeve, grimacing at the bloodstain on his shirt. “My hunger is more intense because I’m not eating flesh.”
“Is that how it is for all red fledglings?” Stark asked.
“Yes. And red vampyres.”
I glanced at Damien, whose hand was poised above the pad of paper on which he was supposed to be taking notes on the answers Other Jack was giving us.
“Damien, if this is too much, I can call Stevie Rae down here and she can take notes,” I said gently.
Damien shook his head. “No. I can do this. I want to do this.” He pulled his eyes from Jack and started writing.
Stark and I shared a look. He shrugged. I’d given everyone a task that took them out of the basement—except Stark and Damien. Stark refused to leave, of course. He still thought Other Jack might try to eat one of us. And I refused to make Damien leave. I hoped I hadn’t made a bad decision. Again.
“Okay, then let’s hurry and get these questions answered. Jack, I can tell you that we’ll probably have more questions later.”
“I understand,” he said.
“Okay, first, we have red fledglings and vampyres in this House of Night world, but they’re different. As you can see by Stark. Um, I don’t mean to offend you, but you and the others—though mostly the others—seem very … uh …” I paused, struggling to find a word that wouldn’t completely alienate him.
“Blood-crazy and feral like zombies,” Stark said.
“Well, yeah, that’s one way of putting it.” I gave Stark a you’re-not-helping look. “Another way is that your people seem much more driven by the blood feeding frenzy than our red fledglings and vamps.”
Other Jack nodded. “There are different levels of the feeding frenzy, but it does mostly control us reds.”
“So, you don’t retain your humanity once you’re Marked red?” Damien asked.
Other Jack’s eyes were shadowed by sadness. “By the time we make the Change, the feeding frenzy rules our lives. Some red vampyres can control it enough to function. They’re made officers in the Red Army. The rest are soldiers.”
“That sounds like all red fledglings make the Change to vampyre,” Stark said.
“They do.”
“So, you always make the Change to adult vampyre if you’re a red fledgling. Okay, what other rules apply to you? Like, can you go out in daylight?” I asked.
“No, we can’t be exposed to the sun. Not as fledglings or vampyres. It burns us up.”
“What else?” I prompted.
“Well, between sunrise and sunset red fledglings are unconscious. Red vampyres can function, but they’re very weak.”
“Wait, you mean you literally can’t stay awake?” Stark asked.
“Yes. I can feel it right now. Sunrise isn’t far away, and already my mind is getting sleepy.”
“Okay, we need to hurry up then. What else is different about you and blue vamps and fledglings?” I asked quickly.
Looking more and more exhausted, Other Jack started to tick points off his fingers. “We have to be invited inside a private dwelling to enter. Some red vampyres can use mind control, but they are the same vamps who are officers in the army. Regular red vamps can’t concentrate on anything except feeding, so they can’t control minds. We heal from wounds quickly, but we have to feed to do so. Oh, and of course, a red vampyre’s bite is contagious. I think that’s it.”
“Rewind,” I said as my stomach felt heavy and sick. “What do you mean by contagious?”
Other Jack gave me a surprised look. “You know, if a red vampyre bites a human that human will die within three days, and then within another three days if their body isn’t beheaded or burned they rise as red zombies.”
“You’re going to need to explain that better,” Stark said when all I did was stare at Jack.
“That doesn’t happen here?” Jack asked.
“No,” I said. “Being a vampyre isn’t contagious. It’s a gift from Nyx, whether you’re Marked blue or red.”
“Oh, well, being a vampyre isn’t contagious in my world, either. That’s why we call them zombies. They rise within three days, but they’re not human and they’re not vampyre. They just lust for blood and living flesh, and then they die. For good this time. Usually within a week or so. Oh, their bite is contagious, too.”
“Zombies. Literally,” I said.
Other Jack nodded. “Yep. Literally.”
“You said you heal from wounds quickly, but I noticed the red vampyres hardly flinched when my arrows struck them—until I shot them through the neck. What’s that about?” Stark said.
“We can only be killed by severing our spines or by being burned. Oh, we can starve to death, too, but that takes some time and it’s terribly painful. It’s how the Red Army disciplines soldiers. They starve them to make them do as they command.” Other Jack shuddered delicately, reminding me so much of our Jack that I had to look away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears that pooled in my eyes.
“And Neferet is the leader of both the Red and Blue Armies?” Stark asked.
“Yes.”
“Um, who exactly is she fighting?” I asked.
“It’s more like who isn’t she fighting,” Jack said. “Her armies have taken control of the middle of the US. Rebel and human strongholds are on the east and west coasts. As soon as she defeats them, she’s going to take over Europe, but she has to do away with the High Council, first. And that’s proving harder than she thought it would be.”
“What do you mean by ‘taken control of the middle of the US’?” I asked.
“You know, humans are refriger—ur, I mean, they are used to feed from. Some of them do it willingly. They try to get a blue vampyre to choose them to use as, ur, their private feeder. At least that won’t kill them. Well, not if the blue vamp is careful. The rest of the humans are feeders for the Red Army.”
“Which is a death sentence,” Stark said.
Other Jack nodded.
I felt shaky and sick. What he was talking about wasn’t our world, but it was close enough to us—to what might have happened had Neferet gained power—that it was frightening. “Jack, you said Neferet is a High Priestess. What happened to the rest of them?”
“There are no other High Priestesses.” Jack shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know what happened to them. When Neferet created the two armies, and they began to gain control of different states, well, they either renounced their positions, swearing that Neferet was the only High Priestess, or they just disappeared.” He cleared his throat before adding, “Or they were made examples of.”
“What does that mean?”
Jack’s eyes lifted from where he’d been staring at his hands, clenched together on his lap. He met my gaze. “They were beheaded and tied to crosses outside their House of Night.”
I shuddered. “Just like she did with Professor Nolan and Lauren Blake. Only here she blamed it on humans so she could start a war. Are you sure Neferet is still mortal?”
“You asked me that before, and I don’t know what you mean. She’s a vampyre. I don’t know anything about her being anything else.”
“Is Kalona in your world?” Damien asked suddenly.
“Kalona? What’s a Kalona?” said Other Jack.
“A winged immortal—ancient consort of Nyx—but, well, he Fell and caused a bunch of problems for humans for a long time,” I explained. “He hooked up with Neferet and then she figured out how to become immortal.”
“There’s no one like that around Neferet. I’m sure of it.”
“Well, that’s good,” Stark said.
“Where is Nyx?” I blurted the next question burning my mind.
Jack sighed heavily. “Neferet says Nyx is with us. All of us vampyres, whether red or blue. But she’s stopped the monthly rituals and circles. She says she worships Nyx privately and then tells her armies what the goddess says. The rebels say that’s bull. They say Nyx is firmly on their side.”
“I say so, too, and I’m not even in that world,” Damien said softly, without looking up from his notepad.
“So, if the depot tunnels are sealed and the red vamps from your world can’t get down there, what would be their Plan B? Where would they go to escape the sun?” Stark asked.
“In this world, it’s hard to say. In my Tulsa, under downtown and midtown there is a complex system of tunnels. Many are linked. But there are entries to them all over so that no red vamp is ever stuck outside.”
I looked at Stark. “They can’t enter any private homes or buildings. And we don’t have a huge system of tunnels under the city—or at least not yet we don’t.”
“So we need to take Warriors to the public buildings that do have entrances to tunnels,” Stark said.
“Let’s try to narrow it down,” Damien said. He looked at Other Jack. I could see that he was working hard to keep his face as expressionless as possible. I hated to think about how difficult it must be for Damien—to have Jack back, but to not really have his Jack back.
“Okay, how?” Jack said.
“We have tunnel entrances in just a few downtown buildings.” Damien paused, considering, then listed them. “Besides the system under the depot, there is the section that connects the Philtower to the Philcade. The Atlas Building, the Mid-Continent Tower, the Kennedy Building, and the Exchange Tower, all on Boston, are connected. And then there’s a system under the Crowne Plaza and the PAC. Are any of these main entrances to tunnels in your world?”
“Neferet has an apartment in the Philtower building, so those tunnels are busy. There are even cots in those because of officers visiting Neferet. Also, the Atlas Building has a club in it that red vamps go to. A lot.” Other Jack paused, looking uncomfortable. “’Cause that’s, um, where the officers feed pretty often, so they have cots down there, too.”
“I’ll bet that’s a real happy place,” Stark said sarcastically.
Jack’s head snapped up. “It makes me sick.”
“Oh, really? Sick like when you tried to bite Damien when he hugged you?” Stark stared him down.
Other Jack’s cheeks flushed red. “I fight it. I try. But the hunger—it’s like a wave that keeps breaking over me. That and the terrible anger that goes with it—it’s awful. And I know I’m going to drown. It’s inevitable that someday I’m going to be a fully Changed red vampyre and the Jack that is me will be gone—or mostly gone. I hate it.” Red-tinged tears leaked down his flushed cheeks. “I hate every second of it.” His bleeding eyes found Damien. “I don’t want to hurt you, but if I’m hungry enough I will. I know you’re not my Damien and I’m not your Jack, but I’m so, so sorry.”
Damien’s head bowed and his tears fell onto his pad of paper, making damp splotches run the ink. “I know. I just don’t know what to do.”
“Well, the first thing we’re going to do is to send Warriors to the Philtower and the Atlas Building,” I said, handing Jack and Damien crumpled tissues I dug out of the bottom of my pocket. “We’re going to take care of this red vampyre zombie plague, and then we’re going to figure out how to fix Other Jack.”
Jack held the crumpled tissue against his chest, looking at me with big, familiar eyes. “Really? You’re really going to try to fix me?”
“Really.” I said it with complete conviction, even though I had no clue how I was going to manage it. “Stark, let’s see what’s going on with Darius and Marx, and how bad it is at the Depot. I’ll send Shaunee down here with more of her blood smoothies.”
“I can—” Damien began, but I cut him off.
“No, Damien. You can’t be alone with Other Jack. Not until we figure out how to help him control himself. I’m sorry, but it’s the way it has to be.”
“I understand,” Damien said faintly. He stood and went to where Jack was sitting on the end of the bed. “I’ll be back. When I can.”
Hesitantly, he reached out and rested a hand on Jack’s shoulder. I felt more than saw Stark tense at the same time Jack sat up straighter and gripped his hands together, as if to keep himself from touching (Touching? Or biting? Tearing? Ripping?) Damien.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to see you, Jack. Even under these peculiar circumstances.”
Other Jack looked up at him, and my heart squeezed as he smiled a totally Jack smile at Damien. “You sound just like Damien.”
“I am Damien.” Other Jack’s gaze lowered back to his clutching hands. “No, I meant my Damien.”
“I understand exactly what you meant.” Damien spoke so softly I could barely hear him. Then he handed me his notebook and left the room without looking back.
I sighed, feeling heartbroken for both of them. “Other Jack, can you think of anything else we need to know?”
“Yes. Kill them. Kill all of the red vampyres. They’re contagious and they’re full vampyres. They won’t change. I think I remember seeing two officers come through with me, and some fledglings, but mostly it was just soldiers. Red soldiers are vicious—I mean, real mean. The only thing you can predict about them is that they live to feed, and they prefer human flesh.”
“But they’ll eat vampyres, correct?” Stark asked.
“Yes. They’d rather not, though. Like, when they fight the rebels. They just kill them. Drink their blood, and mostly leave their flesh. They don’t like the taste.”
“Okay, that helps.” I smiled at Other Jack. “You did good. At least we know what we’re up against. Shaunee will be down soon with your blood. I’ll have her put some in your minifridge, too. And you do have cable down here, plus Netflix.”
He smiled back at me, looking just like our Jack. “Thanks. I’ll be out of it real soon anyway. I can feel sunrise. But I’ll need to feed as soon as I wake up, so blood in the fridge is a good idea.”
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
“A cure.”
“I’m going to try my best,” I said.
“Will you let me stay here, in this House of Night world, if you can cure me?” His voice sounded fragile, as if my answer might break it.
“Other Jack, I have no real clue how I opened the passage between our worlds, so doing it again is gonna be difficult.”
His gaze never left mine. “But there’s a difference between me staying here because you can’t send me back, and me staying here because you’re letting me.”
“You’re right. There is. So, let me be clear once and for all. You’re welcome here, Other Jack. Very welcome here.”
His shoulders slumped in relief as red tears filled his eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“We’ll make this work,” Stark said.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said.
“Promise?”
“Yep. Pinky swear.” Automatically, I held my hand out, little finger extended—just as I would’ve done had it been our Jack.
Other Jack dimpled and hooked his little finger around mine before Stark could step between us. “Totally pinky sworn,” he said.
Stark and I left then. We had to, and not just because of the stupid zombie apocalypse we had to prevent. We had to leave because that Jack had touched a raw place in my heart that still belonged to our Jack. It was either leave or dissolve into snot and tears and bittersweet memories …