Black City

The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. It’s that feeling that someone is following us, but when I look, no one’s there.



Farther down the road, we pass an attractive woman in her twenties, standing on a crate, handing out flyers to anyone who walks by.



“The Darklings are starving! The Sentry government has been lying to us,” she says to a small group of people who have stopped to listen to her. “They told us the Darklings were being fed, taken care of, but yesterday we saw the truth with our own eyes. Humans for Unity was right all along. I say ‘No to Rose’s Law’ and ‘No to segregation.’”



There are a few murmurs of assent from the group.



She thrusts a flyer in my hand, and I quickly scan it. It’s a picture of a burning black rose, with NO TO ROSE’S LAW written above the image and several slogans like NO BOUNDARIES and ONE CITY UNITED plastered over it. I fold it and put it in my pocket.



“How’s Beetle?” I ask, feeling terrible it’s taken me this long to ask.



Day gives me a worried smile. “His stomach is healing nicely, but his face is still sore. The doctor said he’ll probably be scarred.” She chokes on the last word.



I give her a quick hug.



“Are you two back together, then?” I ask.



“We’re giving it a trial run. He’s promised me he’s quitting Haze for good.”



“That’s great,” I say.



“We’ll see,” she replies.



We approach the city cemetery where Chris’s funeral was held. Day pushes open the gate, and we go inside the graveyard. Kurt and a few of the cadets have congregated beside the Armistice Memorial, gearing up for their first hunt. We hurriedly rush past them, keeping our heads down so they don’t spot us.



“You know, most girls take their friends to get ice cream when they’re upset, not to the cemetery.”



Day laughs. We head toward the church ruins where Ash and I once kissed. Why are we going there? I soon get my answer when I spot Ash anxiously pacing in front of the cracked stained-glass window. My heart tugs, drawing me toward him, but I won’t be swayed. I turn to leave, furious, but Day takes my hand and pulls me into the ruins.



“You two need to talk,” she says.



“We have nothing to talk about,” I say to her, unable to look at him for fear my heart might shatter into a million pieces.



“Just give him a chance to apologize,” she says quietly, looking at me with gentle brown eyes. “I’ll see you later.”



I take a deep breath and face Ash. We stare at each other across the ruins. The void between us seems so vast. He looks tired, and I’m sure he hasn’t slept all night. Even so, he’s still devastatingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. His rippling black hair is getting long, and he rakes it back with his fingers.



“I’m sorry,” he finally says.



“If that’s all you’ve got to say, I’ll go.”



He’s by my side in a flash. It hurts having him so close to me; he’s so perfect, his scent so intoxicating. Bonfires, musk and rain. The scent of home. My eyes shimmer with fresh tears, and I angrily wipe them away.



He tilts my face up to look into his.



“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Natalie. I made a mistake, a really stupid, terrible mistake, and I don’t expect you to ever forgive me. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”



“Then why did you bring me here?”



“I just wanted to tell you something.”



“What?” I whisper.



He runs a light finger over my lips, leaving a tingling trail across my skin.



“I love you,” he says. “I love the way you bite your bottom lip when you’re nervous. I love the annoying way you rattle mints against your teeth when you eat them. I love how brave you are. Those are the reasons I love you, Natalie, not because you have a Darkling heart.”



“You really hurt me,” I say.



“I know,” he replies.



“If you really loved me, then why did you kiss her?” I challenge.



He sits on the dewy earth, and I kneel down next to him. He doesn’t look at me.



“I kissed her because she’s my Blood Mate, and that means I’m drawn to her. I’m not going to lie. There’s an attraction—not as strong as I feel for you, but it’s there, and I was confused by what it meant,” he says. “I needed to know how I felt about her. I wanted to know if what you and I had was real.”



“And is it?” I ask in a whisper, my heart racing.



He tentatively touches my knee with his fingertips, and it sends tingles of pleasure through my skin. I don’t move his hand away.



“Yes. It’s real to me.” He looks at me and in that moment he seems so broken, so vulnerable. “Was it ever real for you?”



I pluck a few strands of grass from the earth. “I don’t know,” I finally say, and he frowns. “Face it, Ash, we barely know anything about each other. I don’t even know what your favorite color is!”



“Green,” he says.



I let out a soft laugh. “See? I would’ve guessed black.”



“How about you?”



“Silver,” I reply.



“What else do you want to know?” he asks.



“What’s your favorite book?”



“Easy. The Wooden Boy.”



I raise my eyebrow. “Seriously?”



“Yeah. He wanted to be a real boy—I could relate to that. All I ever wanted was to be a normal kid, to have a heartbeat like everyone else.” He looks at me with eyes that glimmer like stars, a half smile on his lips, and my heart fumbles.



“It must have been really hard for you,” I say.



He nods. “Ask me something else. Anything you want to know, I’ll tell you.”



“Tell me a secret,” I say.



He studies me for a second, then looks at the ground, uncertain. I’m not sure he’s going to tell me anything. “My dad’s hiding my mom in the crypt of our church,” he says quickly.



I inhale sharply. Harboring a Darkling is a capital offense. To tell me—the Emissary’s daughter—something like that proves he really trusts me. I lace my fingers through his.



“I won’t tell a soul, I promise,” I say.



He lightly squeezes my hand.



“Tell me one of your secrets,” he says softly.



I bite my lip. Now is the perfect time to tell him about the Haze. Trust him.



“Ash, I found out something about the Haze. The Sentry—”



“What the fragg is going on here?” a furious voice booms behind us, making the crows in the rafters scatter.



Sebastian stands in the entranceway of the ruins, his face contorted with rage.



I snatch my hand away from Ash.



“Go away, Seb. This is none of your business,” I say.



He stares daggers at Ash, then turns his eyes to me. There’s nothing in them except hate.



“Why do you continue to humiliate me like this?” Sebastian says to me. “I loved you, I promised you the world, and yet you still choose that thing over me.”



“Stop saying you love me. You don’t!” I say.



“She who lies with the beast will be cast into the pits of hell,” Sebastian says, quoting the Book of Creation. “For she who has tasted Sin will be forever drunk on its poison.”



“Give the Purity crap a rest,” I say. “If I’m a sinner, then so are you! You got that Darkling girl pregnant, or did you fail to mention that to Purian Rose?”



Ash looks at me, startled. “He has a twin-blood child?”



“He made her have an abortion,” I reply.



Ash sucks in a breath.



“The creature was an abomination,” Sebastian says.



“It was a baby, and you killed it to save your own skin,” I say.



Sebastian’s hand curls around the hilt of his sword. Ash steps protectively in front of me.



“Sebastian, are we hunting, or what?” Kurt calls out from the cemetery.



A cruel smile plays on Sebastian’s lips. “Yes, we’re hunting.”



He draws his sword and points it threateningly at us. “You’re coming with me.”



29



ASH



SEBASTIAN MARCHES US OUT of the ruins, his sword at our backs. I slide a look at Natalie and try and get as much meaning into my eyes as possible, letting her know we’ll be okay. She nods.



Claw Neck raises a dark brow at us as we join the other cadets, who are all dressed in their Tracker uniforms. We stand out like sore thumbs in our civilian clothes.



“I found a few strays,” Sebastian explains, sheathing his sword.



Claw Neck doesn’t push the matter. He addresses the cadets.



“Today will be a simple search-and-collect mission,” he says. “We’ve had a tip-off that a Darkling is being hidden in a house on City End. We’ll check the house and hopefully capture us a nipper.”



One of the cadets makes a disgruntled sound.



“It may not be an exciting mission, but this type of hunt is a typical day’s work, and you need to learn how to do it,” Claw Neck continues. “And trust me when I say none of you maggots are ready to take on a nest of Wraths.”



They usher us through the cemetery toward City End, which is brimming with people heading home from work. Sebastian stands behind me and Natalie, to be sure we can’t make a run for it. We reach the house, an unassuming Cinderstone building with a yellow-painted door. Claw Neck kicks it down.



“Tracker inspection!” he says, then turns to us. “Never knock. It gives them time to run.”



Sebastian points his sword at me.



“Go inside,” he says.



I hesitate.



“Just do what he says,” Natalie whispers.



We enter the house. It’s small and shabby, with paint peeling off the walls and threadbare rugs. I try and think of a way to get out of this, but I can’t. The cadets move to surround a husband and wife, who are huddled on the floor in the tiny living room. They look up in fright when they see Claw Neck and Sebastian.



“You have no right to be here!” the husband says, his voice breaking. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”



“We’ve had a tip-off that you’re harboring a Darkling, so shut it,” Claw Neck says. “Search the property,” he orders two of the cadets.



They break off from the group and start tearing the house apart, knocking over furniture, checking cupboards. One of the cadets tries opening the utility closet. The door is locked. The husband and wife flash a panicked look at each other.



“Open it,” Sebastian orders the wife.



“No . . .”



He draws his sword.



“Just do it,” the husband urges her.



The woman scrambles to her feet, gets the keys and opens the door. Perched on the washing machine is a box of Synth-O-Blood.



“It fell off the back of a Sentry truck. We were going to sell it on Chantilly Lane,” the husband says quickly. “I was laid off. We have bills to pay.”



“Just take it,” the wife says, sitting down beside her husband. “Please, that’s everything. We have nothing else to hide.”



The husband subconsciously glances at the rug by his feet.



The gesture doesn’t go unnoticed by Claw Neck. He kicks the rug away to reveal a trapdoor.



A collective hush descends on the room.



“It’s just an old storage room,” the wife says.



Claw Neck opens the trapdoor and sticks his arm inside.



“There’s nothing down there, I swear,” she stammers.



Claw Neck grins.



The wife grasps her husband’s hand. “It’s empty, I promise!”



“Then what’s this?” Claw Neck lifts a young boy from the hole like a rabbit from a magician’s hat.



My heart stops.



The boy’s a twin-blood, like me.



He’s pale and skinny as a worm, with shoulder-length rippling hair. He stares at me, and for a fraction of a second, he smiles, and I know what he’s thinking: I’m not alone anymore. Then that brief look of solidarity is replaced with betrayal. I want to tell him that I’m not really a Tracker, but that would be a lie. For the first time, I have to admit it to myself; I’m a traitor.



He’s thrown on the wooden floor.



“What have we here?” Sebastian says, nudging the boy with his foot.



“Leave him alone!” I growl.



Sebastian looks at the husband and wife. “So which one of you is the cheating race traitor?”



The husband glances at his wife.



The boy whimpers.



Claw Neck grins maliciously at me, offering his sword. “Show us whose side you’re really on, Fisher. Kill the nipper.”



“No!” I say.



“Don’t hurt him. He’s just a little boy,” the wife says.



The twin-blood boy peers up at me with sparkling eyes.



I step back. “I won’t do it.”



Claw Neck raises his sword.



“Mama!” the twin-blood boy cries.



“Please don’t!” the wife begs.



With a swift movement, Claw Neck slices the woman’s throat.



Several of the cadets scream. Natalie buries her head in my chest.



“Just take the damn nipper!” the husband says, his face stained with his wife’s blood.



Claw Neck drags the boy outside, and we race after them.



“Let him go!” I lunge for Claw Neck.



Sebastian blocks me off and throws me to the ground. I hit the cobbles beside the boy.



“Leave them alone!” Natalie yells.



“I’m going to get you out of here,” I say to the boy, taking his hand.