24
Heff
Five of the vampyres made it out alive with him. Kevin ran. He led the remnant of his squad directly to the sewer grate he’d noted earlier. With their strength, they tore off the grill-like covering and dropped below in less than the time it took their pursuers to race out of the buildings after them.
The six of them were breathing hard, gasping with panic and adrenaline. He motioned for the soldiers to move through the sewer line, away from the grate as he whispered, “Quiet. Move this way.” They followed him without question, crouching in the narrow, fetid space. Kevin was relieved that these five were coherent enough to actually follow orders—much of the Red Army’s soldiers could only be pointed in an enemy’s direction and set loose to rip and tear and bite and kill.
Kevin shuddered.
He was different. He’d always been different.
From the day his sister died—the day the dreams had started—the day he’d been Marked as the youngest red fledgling in history. And a scant two months later, the Change had altered him again—making him the youngest red vampyre in history.
Well, in his world’s history anyway.
Sounds echoed from above, mixing eerily with the whining of the wind and the drip, drip, drip of water from somewhere behind them. The six of them huddled together, waiting.
Kevin’s mind was a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions trying to sift their way through the incessant hunger and anger that shadowed his every moment since he’d picked up the phone one night and heard an emotionless voice report that his sister, Zoey Redbird, had been found dead—decapitated and nailed to a cross outside the House of Night. He’d put the phone down and turned to tell his mom the horrible news when he’d collapsed, only to struggle to his feet a moment later as his mother started screaming … over and over … pointing at the red crescent moon tattooed in the center of his forehead.
Think. Reason. You can do it. What do I know for sure?
Zoey was alive, even though he knew she was dead. The morbid pictures had been in the Tulsa World. Zo’s death was the third decapitation outside the House of Night, and the backlash from the vampyres against humans had been swift and decisive.
Neferet’s armies had been victorious. They were still victorious.
But there was no sign of Neferet or her soldiers here.
Humans and vampyres—red and blue—worked together here.
Zoey was alive. His sister was alive. She’d recognized him. She’d saved him from being fried.
The men who attacked us aren’t lying. This really isn’t my world.
“What are our orders?”
Kevin shook himself and refocused on the present. One of the soldiers was watching him closely—the red glow in his eyes present, but dim. If we stay awake, we will have to feed.
“Sleep,” Kevin told him. “I’ll stay on watch.”
“At sunset. What orders then?” the soldier asked.
“At sunset we go to the rendezvous point and meet the general,” Kevin said automatically, though he sincerely doubted the general would show.
The people of this world were on to them, and the general had fallen into their trap. Kevin would have been trapped, too, and killed, had it not been for Zoey.
“Sleep,” Kevin repeated. “Then we rendezvous and feed.”
That got through to them, and the soldiers formed a nest-like group together and slept.
Kevin struggled against that pull. It would be good—so good to curl up with the others—to share their heat and their heartbeats—to sleep mindlessly and then wake with nothing but hunger on his mind.
No. I do not want that. I do not want to lose myself. And I do not want to lose my dreams.
Adrenaline and panic gone, exhaustion took their place. Kevin walked heavily to stand closer to the grate. He had to cover his eyes and squint against the suddenly strong light of the sun, and he was careful to avoid the slatted rays that filtered down between the grate. Sounds of the men above became more distant and irregular. The street seemed to have quieted. Kevin sat and leaned his head against the cold, wet side of the sewer pipe.
What am I going to do now?
His thoughts were shifting back to Zoey and the wide-eyed look of shock that had frozen her in place before him when it happened.
It was like he had been holding his breath for too long, and all of a sudden, he was able to draw air—clean, sweet, life-giving air. He gasped aloud—and heard his gasp echoed by the five soldiers. They sat, blinking and looking around as if they had no idea where they were. Their gazes turned to him as one.
“Lieutenant?” The soldier who had spoken before was the first to say anything. “What just happened?”
The other men shook their heads and rubbed their eyes as if they’d just stepped inside out of a ferocious rainstorm.
Kevin drew a breath. And then another. “I—I’m not sure. How do you feel?” he asked the soldier.
“My name is Marc—Marc Haimes. And I feel normal. I feel absolutely normal.”
“So do I,” said the guy next to him. “I’m Ben.”
“Yeah, I’m good, too. And I’m Ethan.”
“Got a headache and it smells bad down here, but I’m cool. My name’s Dave.”
“I’m Justin. Where the hell are we?”
Kevin stared at them. “You can think again.”
The five of them nodded. They didn’t look much different except there was no sign of redness in their eyes and their faces were animated with emotion—emotion that wasn’t anger or insatiable hunger.
“We’ve been healed,” Kevin said slowly.
“What do ya mean, healed?” Marc said. “I’m fine. Or, I was fine until just the other day when I woke up with that damned red crescent Mark on my …” his voice faltered.
Then Kevin watched as they remembered.
Silently, the five of them stared, slack-jawed, at one another. Kevin saw it. He saw the realization of what they had become—the memory of the things they had done—flood into minds that were no longer poisoned. He understood then for the first time the answer to the question he had been unable to ask safely back in his world. Am I the only red vampyre who still remembers what it’s like to be human?
Yes. The answer was yes. Kevin Heffer had been the only red vampyre in his world to remember what it was like to be human—to mourn for it, to miss it, and to be disgusted by what they had all become. But now these other five—they, too, remembered their humanity. And they couldn’t bear it.
“No.” The word wrenched from Marc on a sob.
“I couldn’t do those things. Really. I’m serious. I couldn’t,” Ben said as tears washed down his cheeks.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Justin repeated the litany as he shook his head back and forth.
Marc forced himself to his feet and stumbled to Kevin. He went to his knees and stared into Kevin’s eyes. “We have torn people apart with our teeth and hands. We ate them. People. Innocent people.”
“Yes.” The word hovered in the air around them, condemning them—taunting them—hurting them.
“I’ve got to get outta here!” Marc lurched toward the grate, only pausing to grimace in pain when the slats of sunlight hit his body.
“Stop!” Kevin shouted, lunging for him. But he was already in the sunlight. Kevin recoiled, expecting Marc to burst into flames.
Instead Marc jumped back—staring down at his body. He was wearing a T-shirt and his exposed forearms were striped with a nasty sunburn that was already blistering. “I didn’t die.”
“We have been healed,” Dave said, scooting over closer to them as he gaped at Marc.
“Will it go away? Will we turn back into those—those things we were?” Marc asked.
“I don’t know,” Kevin said.
“How could this be? Who did this to us? I can’t—I can’t bear the memories. I can’t.” Ethan put his face in his hands and sobbed.
“No, no, no, no, no, no …” Justin babbled as he stared up at the grate.
“Do you remember what they shouted at us when they trapped us? They said we’d trespassed on a world not our own,” Kevin reasoned aloud. “I think they were right. We’re not in our world anymore.”
“It could be a trap. A rebel army trap,” said Marc.
“No. This isn’t our world. Since when have humans been allowed to decorate the streets for Christmas?” Kevin said. “And what about the depot? There was a restaurant there where humans were being waited on by fledglings—red fledglings.”
“That’s impossible,” Dave said.
“Exactly. And that vampyre—the blue one in the tunnels who stopped the others from killing us—she’s my sister. In our world, my sister died the day I was Marked, more than a year ago.”
“What does all of this mean?” Marc asked.
“I know who might help us figure this out,” Kevin said.
“Who?” Davis said.
“My sister. She tried to tell me. She said not to run. Zoey will help me. She’ll help us. I know it.”
“She can’t help this.” Ben stood and lifted a trembling finger to press it to his temple. “She can’t help the memories stop here.”
“No, but she can help us figure out how to go forward from here,” Kevin said.
“There’s no going forward after what I’ve done.” Ethan stood shakily beside Ben.
“But we have to,” Kevin said.
“No, no, no, no, no.” Justin repeated the word as he stood with Ben and Ethan.
The three vampyres shared a long look.
“Justin has it right. No,” Ben said. “No, we don’t have to go forward.”
“And we won’t,” Ethan said.
Together, Ben, Ethan, and Justin charged forward, knocking David off his feet and throwing Marc into Kevin. Caught off guard, Kevin scrambled to get out from under Marc and gain his footing. When he did it was too late. Ben had shoved the sewer grate aside and crawled through the opening, with Ethan and Justin following him.
Kevin lunged for Justin’s leg. He managed to snag his ankle, but Justin kicked him, sending Kevin back on his butt. By the time he regained his feet for the second time, the three red vampyres were already running clear of the grate.
Yanking his shirt up so that it covered his head and part of his face, Kevin pulled himself up in time to see Ethan, Ben, and Justin, bodies smoking in the winter sunlight, shouting incoherently at the group of uniformed men who had been getting into black SUVs. The men turned. Kevin heard them order, “TPD! Halt or we’ll shoot!” The three didn’t pause.
“Do it or we will eat you!” Ben’s anguished shout carried down to them.
The man with the flamethrower turned it on them.
Kevin pulled the grate back over the manhole and fell heavily to the ground as their screams died in flames and sunlight and blood.
Marc hurried to him, pulling him back out of the splotch of sunlight.
“I couldn’t stop them,” Kevin said between heaving breaths. “I tried. But I couldn’t stop them.” He stared up at Marc and David. “Are you going to do it, too? Are you going to commit suicide?”
“I can’t promise that I’ll be able to live with my past, but I need answers,” Marc said. “I’m coming with you, Lieutenant.”
“I’m with you, too. I won’t pretend that I can handle this, but I also need answers,” David said.
“So, our plan?” Marc asked as he sat beside Kevin.
“Wait here until dusk and then go to the House of Night and ask to see my sister.”
“What if they kill us?” David asked.
“Then we’re dead and we don’t have to figure out how to live with our memories,” Kevin said.
“Good point,” Marc said. “I’m in.”
“That’d solve one problem for us. I’m in, too,” David said.
Zoey
There was just enough room for the Escalade to fit beside the TPD transport bus and still be under the covered entrance to the Field House. Shaunee hadn’t even put it into park yet and I was out of the SUV and halfway through the door to the school, with Stark and Shaunee scrambling to catch up with me, when I ran into Aphrodite. Literally. Knocking her smack on her butt.
Well, technically I didn’t knock her on her butt. The door I’d pushed open did. But still, she fell with an ungraceful smack on the tile floor.
“Ouch! Damn, Z. I thought you said my apology was accepted.” She was rubbing her butt as she stood. She tilted her head up to give me a scrunch-faced look and there it was—the most incredible Mark I had ever seen.
“How? Wh—? I don’t—I’ve never seen anything like that!” I blurted when I finally managed to regain control over my mouth.
“Fuck me running, Aphrodite’s a vampyre!” Shaunee said as she slid to a stop behind me.
“Red and blue. Red and blue?” Stark babbled. “How could it be red and blue? And you weren’t even a fledgling anymore.”
“Right?! It’s crazy cool, isn’t it?” Aphrodite said. She shook back her hair so that we could get a better look.
I’ll admit it. I gawked.
Her Mark was spectacular! It looked like one of the handmade, vintage Mardi Gras masks sold in the gorgeous boutiques in Venice—the kind exquisite women held to frame their eyes after their hair was piled on top of their heads and their boobs billowed out of the bodice of their seventeenth-century reproduction gowns. Stark was right—the Mark was in red and blue, and it looked like delicate, glistening fireworks exploding in beauty across her flawless skin.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“Neither do I,” Stark said.
“Yeah, it’s cool and all, but what the hell are you?” Shaunee asked.
Aphrodite lifted one perfect brow. “I am a bridge.”
“Huh?” I said.
“That’s what Nyx told me. That was pretty much my reaction, too. At first.”
“But why did this happen?” I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it. “Are you still a Prophetess?”
“Uh, yes. Squared. At least. And it happened because I finally let it go,” Aphrodite said.
“Damn, girl. You know we have no clue what it is,” Shaunee said.
“It is a lot of things—but mostly my mother and all the crap she’s done to me. And by letting her go I mean I finally got it. I finally understood that no matter how much I want her to love me and to be a good mom—hell, even an average mom—however much I want that, it’s out of my control. It doesn’t matter what I say or do. I can’t fix her. I can only fix how I react to her—or I’m doomed, through my own decisions and my own actions to repeat her bullshit awful life. That’s it. Then Nyx showed up and this happened and a bunch more.”
“Well put, Aphrodite. Zoeybird, that nice Detective Marx said that you needed to speak with me.” Grandma appeared from the hallway that led to the Field House.
“I do.” I drew a deep breath and blurted, “You know how Other Jack came through from the other House of Night world?”
“Yes.”
“Someone else we recognize came through from that world. It’s Kevin, Grandma. He’s a red vampyre.”
“Oh, dear. Oh, oh, dear.” She swayed a little and Stark rushed to take her arm.
“Steady, there, Grandma. It’ll be okay. We’re going to find him and bring him here. Just like Other Jack is here.”
“Is he like those poor young fledglings? They are all so upset. It’s just terrible what they’re going through.”
“I don’t know what he’s like, Grandma,” I said. “I only saw him for a second, but he called my name. He definitely recognized me.”
“Zoey, there you are!” Marx rushed up from the Field House side of the entrance. “I’m getting crazy reports from downtown. Seems a few red vampyres, the same ones that were in our tunnels, committed suicide.”
“Oh, Goddess, no!” Grandma’s legs buckled and only Stark’s strong arm around her kept her from falling to the floor.
Marx moved to Grandma’s side. “No, no, not your grandson! I’m sorry, Mrs. Redbird. I should have led with that. One of the officers who saw Kevin in the tunnel earlier was there. He said none of these vampyres were your brother.” “Committed suicide? What the hell?” Stark said.
“I know what the hell,” Aphrodite said. “It goes along with this.” She pointed to her incredible Mark. “And to why the red fledglings from the other world are awake and aware. Come on inside. I’ll tell you everything. Oh, and don’t expect Damien to join us anytime soon. He and Other Jack are having a thing.” She held up her hand and “shh, shh, shh’d” me when I tried to get more info about the thing.
“Boy-on-boy action. That’s all I’m gonna say because I’m pretty sure they won’t let me watch. Even though I’m pretty sure I’d like to watch. So, to tell you more, I’d have to make up the details, and my brain is busy.” She shrugged. “Anyway, come on. I have some unbelievable shit to tell you.”
“This should certainly be interesting,” Grandma said, already sounding more like herself.
“Would you do me the honor of taking my arm, Sylvia?” Stark held his arm out for her, looking every bit the gentleman. Grandma smiled at him and took it, the color coming back into her smooth cheeks.
I loved him so much at that moment that it was difficult for me to breathe.