The next day dawned without any fanfare. I heard Micah get up and leave, but since my brain didn’t want to work yet, I let sleep drag me back under. My stomach growling woke me up, and I rubbed my eyes. I was accustomed to hunger. Sometimes the Vampires had forgotten to feed us for a while.

We taste different to them. Men versus women. They actually prefer the taste of men, Deacon. My father stretched in his cage. But we’re stronger. We can work their mines longer. They need us to make stuff work. So they’ll eat women if they have to, but they’re never the first choice.

My old man’s voice echoed through my mind. A memory. He used to give me advice in the cage. Things he knew about the Vampires. As long as we were useful, we lived. Drop one bag of coal, and it was all over. Or, as I’d discovered, dump an entire bag of ash over a Vampire's head, and you would end up being slated for death in the hands of the weak and infirmed Vampires.

Rachel had gotten me out. I didn’t have to keep going back there in my head. Why had I woken up thinking about the taste of women versus men? I got out of bed, swinging my legs over the side. It was still early so Micah must have left with the first rays of sun.

I walked with unsteady feet out back to use the bathroom. I wasn’t going to complain about an outhouse. Micah and I had been using the woods. When I was done, I changed my clothes and got ready for the day. I hadn’t given anyone any specific instructions about when to meet back up. I’d have to spread the word. Maybe Lydia would be up and could help me with that.

All women. Vampires liked the taste of men better than women. That could explain why there were women here instead of men. Had the Vampires come and taken the men? I’d come up with an answer, for sure, only it didn’t feel right.

My gut said no.

I was still alive because I’d gotten used to listening to it.

Instead of Lydia, I ran into Anastasia, one of the women who had been with us the day before. She had long, brown hair, a prominent nose, and brown eyes. I admired how she stood with confidence, but at that moment, I felt more like her prey than anything else. I’d spent too many years with predators to ignore the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I knew what it meant.

Danger.

“Deacon, good morning.” Her smile was fake and forced. “So glad to see you. It’s cold but beautiful, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Have you seen Lydia?”

She narrowed her gaze. “Lydia, yes. This time of day she plays with Charlie, gives her poor sick mother a bit of a break. You can find her by her grandmother’s place.”

“Thanks.” I tried to smile at her and found I just couldn’t. “Would you let the others know I want to meet in about two hours?”

Her smile was thin. “Sure.”

She didn’t look happy about it. Maybe she didn’t want to train anymore. That was fine. I wouldn’t make anyone do anything they didn’t want to. Lydia jumped to her feet when I approached. I was glad to see Charlie again, too. He smiled and clapped his hands before he waved. He was a happy little boy. I was sorry his mother was so sick.

“Good morning.”

She wore something yellow under her winter coat. I could just see the collar of it poking through. Charlie was wearing a coat too big for him. It practically swallowed him.

“Good morning,” she called out as I walked closer to them. “We are just having a little bit of fun.”

I nodded, kneeling down. “Little bit of fun is a good thing.” I assumed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever had any. “What are you playing?”

Charlie held up his hand. “Using the stick.” He handed it to me. “You can take it.”

I wanted to make this child some toys. I’d have to ask Micah what toys exactly were but maybe I could carve out something. “I thought we could start again in two hours.”

She nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

Neither of us moved, and I ended up grinning at her, I wasn’t exactly sure why. Finally, she spoke. “Deacon, last night I kissed you.”

“I know. I mean, I was there.”

She nodded. “I don’t usually do that.”

“Okay.” I wasn’t sure why she was bringing this up.

Lydia reached up and kissed me, this time on the mouth. I sighed against her. I wanted to keep my guard up and knew I didn’t have enough information to judge either Lydia or her town yet. But it was hard. She was so pretty, and if she was even a fraction as nice as she was acting, then she ranked amongst the kindest people I’d ever met. She pushed slightly closer to me, and her breasts touched my chest. We wore thick clothing but I imagined I could feel their softness.

My whole body woke up and took notice. I was instantly hard. It was everything I could do not to moan against her mouth. We were in the middle of the morning—if that—and her younger brother was playing in the dirt next to us. Anyone could come by. She’d given me the sweetest of kisses and didn’t deserve to be pawed all over simply because I couldn’t control myself.

I took a step back, separating our bodies. I was shaking. She might have been, too.

“Deacon.” Her voice was soft.

“Lydia, two hours. Okay? We’ll work on…” I couldn’t think “…stuff.”

In the meantime, I’d go look for an underground opening. Maybe I’d find one and I could fight some monsters. It would let me work off some of this energy. Lydia was… getting under my skin. And she smelled like vanilla.

Two hours later, I had two more students than the day before—all girls around Lydia’s age—staring at me while I held up a stake.

“The thing about a stake is it’s not hard to use. It’s the easiest of all the weapons.” I held mine up toward the sun. “Stick it in a Vampire’s heart, and it’s done. Period. As deadly as they are, and always will be, they’re vulnerable. A small, wooden weapon takes care of them. The worst part is not letting go of them after they’re used. The instinct will be to drop it. The Vampires will dissolve into ash. You can retrieve the stake. That being said, there’s almost never just one. So you’re digging around in the dark looking for the thing, and they’re coming at you.” I smiled, making eye contact with no one. “Not that I would know from personal experience or anything.”

They all laughed. “Everyone stand up and try to hold it, like this.” I demonstrated the right hold, three fingers on the stake.

For the next twenty-minutes, I walked around fixing everyone’s hands. The girls seemed overly flirty and less serious than they had been the day before. Except for Lydia. If anything, she was entirely preoccupied with getting it right and making sure everyone else did it correctly as well.

It didn’t seem like I was going to get more than about half-an-hour of work from them, and after a bit, I called it a day. Everyone walked off except for Lydia, who hung back and strolled slowly with me down the main street of the town. People who had not come to fight were going about their day. A woman with short hair and a limp carried a basket full of meat in one direction. After her, an elderly woman dragged a goat. The blacksmith’s wife I had met the day before—a round woman with gray hair—had a wagon full of coal.

Lydia put her hand in mine, squeezing my fingers. “Deacon, do you want to leave? With me? Right now? We could go. You and me. Grab Micah if you want and just… go.”

Now that was an interesting question. I knew how it was to want to get away from home, but the woman who had been playing with her brother that morning hadn’t wanted to run. “Lydia, is there something you want to tell me? I’m listening. I’m here.”

“Yes, Deacon, there is. I…”

Whatever she would have said never got uttered. My internal Werewolf alarm banged and nearly took me to the ground. The Wolves were here, and they had come in a large group. I didn’t have Micah around, but I could guarantee he was feeling it, too.

Lydia, however, was not.

“Deacon?” She cried out, grabbing my arm. “What’s wrong?”

I yanked her to me and into the nearest house, rougher than I might have liked, but this was no time to be gentle. Whoever owned the house would have to deal with our unexpected arrival. They could kiss my ass if they didn’t like it. It was inside and a cover for this sweet woman, and I refused to lose her to the claws of the beasts. I busted back outside.

Ripping my machete off my back and spinning around, I barely got out of the way as one launched itself at me. I hollered, taking its head off. Smack. The blood splattered all over me as the next one jumped. They overwhelmed me. I’d taken down fifteen once, but this time, I didn’t think I’d get down four. These Werewolves were pissed.

Also, the time I had done fifteen all at once I had been back-to-back with other Warriors. There had been support in the chaos.

Micah arrived not a second too soon. He roared. His presence helped, and I wasn’t as overwhelmed. It was good to have friends. A Werewolf got me, cutting open my jacket and tearing up my skin. The pain wasn’t little, but I didn’t have time to focus on it. Micah and I fought and fought up until the point the last one went down. I’d beaten my record. Twenty. I took down twenty.

My fellow Warrior whirled around. He breathed hard. His eyes were wide. “Deacon.” He grabbed my arm tightly. “You’re hurt. You feeling it?”

“What?” I looked around. Were there more Werewolves? I was dizzy, and I shook my head. “I…”

I’d felt it when they’d swiped my arm. Somehow I missed the chest. Blood seeped down. Well, that couldn’t be good. We didn’t have a doctor and…

I stumbled. Someone shouted from inside the house. I knew that voice. It was Lydia. She was yelling. Micah grabbed me under my arms.

“All right, buddy. It’s okay. I got this. I swear I do.”

He had what?

A cool washcloth woke me from some stupor I was in. I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry. Oh, this couldn’t be good. The Vampires killed us when we got too sick. We had to stay healthy. Little children could catch viruses but not us.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be up soon.”

The washcloth again. “Hush now. No one expects you to be up after what you just did.”

“The Vampires will come get me.” Why didn’t this person understand? “I can’t be this sick. I’ll get over it. I’m strong.”

A kiss on my cheek. “No, the Vampires won’t be coming tonight.”

The blackness again.

I dreamed.

---

I was walking down the main street of Lydia’s town. It wasn’t snowing and everything was in black and white. The people walked past me, everyone doing their jobs. One woman moving in slow motion. The blacksmith’s wife… she hauled coal in a wagon.

---

I jerked awake. My body hurt, but I was cool.

“Hey there, big guy.” Micah grabbed my shoulders. “Not so fast. I don’t want you to pull a stitch.”

“Who stitched me?” He pointed at himself. Well, that was shocking, but I’d have to figure out how he managed another time. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “No need. Lie back down. I’m not a doctor, but I’m going by what they told me when I was in with the medics in Genesis.”

“Micah, are we alone?” I resisted his attempts to get me to lie back.

He looked behind him. “As far as I can tell. Why?”

“I don’t want to be heard. The coal, Micah.” He had to understand. I had to make him.

Micah touched my forehead. “You shouldn’t be raving without fever.”

“I’m not raving.” Damn it. “They have coal. The blacksmith’s wife. She was dragging it around yesterday. People don’t just get coal. Did you ever see any at Genesis once the underground habitat fell? The only beings with coal are the Vampires. They used humans to mine the stuff. That’s what I did, remember? Where are they getting the coal? Where are the men? What is going on?”

Micah paled then blinked rapidly. “Fuck. You’re right. The coal. How could I have missed that?”

“This place…”

I knew we were on the same page. I knew it because Micah and I had been in battle together. A lot. That kind of camaraderie didn’t just go away. We’d been on opposite sides sometimes, yet I knew who he was in the dark when the monsters came. I knew he didn’t hesitate. I knew I could trust him to have my back. I hadn’t realized it. He was a Lyons. His brother took who I’d wanted for myself. Or she picked him. Whatever. It didn’t matter anymore. The Lyons had been what my family was in the Vampire holdings—royalty. I’d been jealous as hell. Micah was my friend, and I hadn’t even realized it. At some point, his sheer refusal to leave me alone had gotten in.

So he got what I wasn’t saying. This place… every bit of it… was a trap.

No one had coal. Not unless the Vampires were giving it to them.

I’d let go a lot of what they didn’t seem to have to do—hunting, farming, and gathering—as winter issues. They were probably living off supplies. But not any of these women were doing a thing other than housework and childcare. There was nothing wrong with that except it wasn’t realistic.

“Why aren’t they more hysterical? If their men are missing? Why aren’t they terrified about the crops? The farms? Their life?” I’d no sooner asked this than the door opened and closed.

Lydia entered, wearing a long, gray dress and sturdy looking boots. There were dark circles under her eyes. Had she not been sleeping? My concern for her fled pretty fast, or at least most of it did. She was part of this. The secrets of this town. The coal. The Vampires. She had answers, and her secrets, which I was happy to let her keep before, seemed evil now. These people were dealing with monsters, and the whole town was complicit.

“You’re awake.” Her beautiful smile seemed genuine. The woman must be one amazing actress. “Oh thank the heavens. You’re awake. I worried. I thought you might never open your eyes again and look at me. Those blue eyes.”

My ridiculous heart clenched. I had to see her for what she was—a liar.

Micah spoke. “He’s up but he’s a little drowsy. I think those herbs you had did the trick for pain. He won’t be moving anywhere for two days.” This was Micah giving me information. Stay quiet, act out of it, and I couldn’t move for two days. I coughed, which hurt my stitches on my chest, but he’d get that I understood what he’d said. Lydia had been drugging me. I got it. “Maybe he could use some tea?”

“Oh.” She brightened, nodding her head. “Sure thing. Be right back.” She turned and practically ran from the cabin. Micah bent over into his bag, sliding my machete under the sheets. I scooted until it was next to me on the right. No one would see it, but I’d know it was there.

If I had to defend myself. From… whom? One of the women? A monster? Lydia?

It was hard for me to imagine. Still, if Micah thought I should have it, I’d keep it with me. Hidden. Like everything I’d come to understand.

I practically choked down the tea when Lydia brought it back.

---

I managed to go twenty-four hours without really having to talk to her. Feigning exhaustion wasn’t hard since I was, in fact, injured and tired. But day two, she started to get really chatty.

“I actually love the way the sun comes through the windows here in the spring. I’d really love for you to see it. Sometimes, it makes me think everything might just be okay. A sunny day can do that, right?”

I was grouchy. My body hurt, and now that I could think, I was pissed as hell more than one Werewolf had managed to get me with his or her claws. I didn’t want to hear about sunny days. I didn’t want to hear one more damned word unless it was truth. If Micah was here, he’d drug me up and tell me to shut my mouth.

And there was the problem. I wasn’t interested in playing games and sneaking out in the middle of the night. This woman was playing with me. I wanted to know why. I didn’t wish to go the rest of my life wondering about her intentions.

“I won’t be here in the spring.” I had to clear my voice to raise my intonation. That was fine. I wanted to be heard.

She sat down on the end of my bed. “You might change your mind. Maybe there will be a reason for you to stay.”

“Before or after whatever happened to the men happens to me? Or when the Vampires come by to drop off supplies?” She looked down at the floor at my last statement.

She put her head in her hands. “I’m working on that last bit.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific.” I swung my legs over the bed. I was tired of being at her mercy. The fact she was dishonest wasn’t a surprise. Everyone I knew was. “Where are the men?”

“Six months out of every year, they go.” She cleared her throat. “Not by choice. I didn’t lie. It’s the middle of the night. The Vampires come. They take them. Kill a few.” She looked away. “And we wait for their return. They come before planting and harvest.”

The anger welling up inside of me made it hard to breathe. “And you give them what? To keep this system going? Trust me, I lived with the vamps. They’re not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. Sounds like some crazy human is even leading them. Vamps don’t negotiate.”

She rose and walked to the window. “We give them any visitor that comes. You’re not the first to find their way here. They take them. We didn’t make this deal. My great-grandparents, and the people who founded the town after everything happened, did.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. “Great. Should I expect them when the sun goes down? And you? You’re part of it? Did you see us and just immediately think okay, let’s make them food. I’ll pretend to like him, which will make him want to stay for a while. Then in the middle of the night, the Vampire can take him away, and I’ll go back to playing with my brother and the stick.”

She whirled, tears streaming down her face. She wiped them away but more came. I made myself steel. Her fake emotions wouldn’t move me.

“I loved you instantly. I know that sounds nuts. I know you don’t love me. How could you? We hardly know each other, and I live in this… nightmare we call our existence. I know there should be no such thing as love at first sight. But there it was. I looked over, assuming we were all going to die, and there you were. My heart skipped a beat.” She touched her chest. “I felt it. I loved you. And then you jumped on that Wolf. I almost jumped after you. If Charlie hadn’t been there, I would have. Deacon, I meant it. Let’s run. Please. I can’t think of any other way. I love you. I just… do. I think you’ll love me eventually. I have to believe that’s a possibility.”

I ached everywhere. “Beautiful speech. How many times have you given it? You’re damsel in distress, and Anastasia is tough girl who needs to be saved. I bet you all have a role, yes? Where is your husband or boyfriend? With the Vampires? Is Charlie really your brother or your son? Does that story change based on need?”

She put a hand over her eyes, and then I watched as she managed to make herself stop crying. “Nothing I have told you about myself has been a lie. I don’t do this. I don’t participate. I stay away from it. Charlie is my brother. My mom nearly died having him. Every boy baby that comes is like a nightmare for us. Another person we’ll have to give to them at sixteen. I love him so much. He might end up having to be like a son to me. I know enough to tell Mama isn’t much longer on this earth. He’d have to come with us. If we left. I can see now that’s not going to happen. You don’t believe me.”

“Beautiful girls who somehow still have their souls intact, who aren’t lost to the beast that is this life, they don’t fall in love with me. Women love me when they need something from me. Or they don’t love me at all. They certainly aren’t looking at me and deciding instantly I’m the man of their dreams. It makes for a lovely act but that’s all it is.”

She sniffed. “It’s not. It’s pathetic, but there it is. I’m a stupid girl, but my heart picked you.”

“Sounds like mating crap.” And I’d heard enough about mates to last me lifetimes. “We love with our heads as much as our hearts.”

“I agree. Maybe if you weren’t brave and brilliant, I would have gotten over it. Every day, knowing you, it affirms I was right the first time. I’m sorry, Deacon, there’s nothing to it. I love you.”

The door creaked open, and Micah came in. He closed it softly behind him. “I heard it all. No need to rehash. Two things.” He held up that many fingers. “Deacon is well worth loving. That’s neither here nor there. When your great-grandparents made this place, made their deals and left you all here to keep living them, they knew what they were doing. See, I’m from that time. We had a word for just this situation. The fake emotions, the need for help, the gorgeous women. The old people. The broken down homes needing repair. You play on the best of what makes us still human. This whole place does. Back in my day”—he smirked. He loved that stupid expression—“we called this a honey pot.”