Hourglass

Then the flare went out, and darkness fell again.

What if Lucas was one of those fighters? What if I ran past him as he was being hurt or worse?

That’s when I realized that I knew I hadn’t run past him. I knew. Something in me could tell that I wasn’t close to Lucas.

It’s the blood.

My parents had always told me that drinking blood created a powerful bond. I’d assumed they meant emotionally. Now I knew it was about more than feelings. Something in me could understand where Lucas was—maybe how he was—if only I could figure out how to harness that ability.

I’m coming, Lucas, I thought. I didn’t have an actual telepathic link to him or anything, but I had to focus myself on him.

Amid all the screaming and the smoke, I closed my eyes. My fingertips against the wall were my only guides now. I reached out, searching for Lucas. When I got near him, I’d know.

There.

I stopped short and opened my eyes. It was still black as pitch, and the echoes were even stronger, making the screams and shouting more disorienting. But somehow I felt that Lucas was near. Did I dare call his name?

That’s when the falling brick smashed into the back of my head.

I didn’t feel myself fall. At that second I couldn’t feel much of anything. I could hear the screams and the heavy thud of my body against the ground. It hurt—I knew that it hurt—but it was a very abstract sort of sensation, as though the pain were something I was remembering. Whatever connection I’d forged with Lucas was instantaneously severed. For a while there was nothing but sound. I couldn’t say whether that went on for ten seconds or ten minutes.

Basically, I didn’t know much of anything until I felt a strong hand clutch the top of my arm and hoist me to my feet. I couldn’t stand upright, not without swaying, but the hand wouldn’t let me fall.

“Open your eyes,” Mrs. Bethany said.

I obeyed. The tunnel had gone completely quiet, save the rattle of small stones and dust still raining down. The blinding swirl of grit had cleared, but just slightly. Only my vampire’s vision let me see Mrs. Bethany in the dark, in shadows of inky blue on black.

My throat stung from inhaling dust. I rasped, “Are you going to kill me?”

She tilted her head, as if I’d said something amusing. “You can serve a better purpose, I think.”

“Did you come for revenge against Black Cross? Or just against me?”

“How important you think you are.” Mrs. Bethany started, towing me with her. Off-balance, I could only stumble along, coughing and wincing from the viselike grip she had on my arm. “My business with Black Cross began long before you were born, Miss Olivier. I suspect it will endure long after your death.”

Although fear clutched at me (Where’s Lucas? What about Raquel?), I knew Mrs. Bethany wasn’t planning my death. If she were, she would’ve murdered me already.

Mrs. Bethany continued, “I do owe you a certain debt, however. You made this possible, after all.”

“Me? What do you mean?”

“Not every vampire is a fool about technology, evidence from Mr. Yee’s class notwithstanding.” She was leading us over the rubble that now lined the tunnel. “When you e-mailed your parents at their Evernight account, tracking the ISP to New York was a fairly simple matter. We had recently learned where Black Cross was headquartered in this city, so you might as well have drawn us a map.”

Oh, no. This attack was my fault. Lucas had explained how tightly Black Cross regulated Internet use, but I’d always thought it was just more of their stupid restrictive rules. Too late, I saw the reasons behind it.

“They said you wouldn’t come here,” I said, dazed. “That vampires wouldn’t dare attack their headquarters—that it happened only once and they killed the leader—”

“Until very recently, that was true.” The uneven stones rolled beneath my feet, and I twisted my ankle. I cried out, and to my surprise, Mrs. Bethany stopped. “But after the attack on Evernight, many of our kind are more willing to band together and take action than they were before. We are united again. Your ill-advised romance has at least served a purpose. For me, that is. For you—well.”

“You don’t know anything about Lucas.” Then I wondered if she did know, and for one horror-struck second, I thought she might tell me that he was dead.

Instead Mrs. Bethany said, “In recognition of the good you have so unknowingly and unwillingly done me, I offer you a far better choice than you deserve. If you like, you may come home.”

“W-what?”

“As quick-witted as ever, I see. Miss Olivier, you may return to Evernight. Although the main building is uninhabitable at this time, we have set up temporary housing for the duration of the repairs, which will only take two or three months. Your parents are there, leading the rebuilding efforts. They wished to come along tonight, of course, but they were overemotional. Their recklessness would have hindered our efforts. How pleased they would be if you returned along with the rest of us.”

She wasn’t playing fair. The thought of my parents waiting back at Evernight, hoping that I would come in the door, tugged at me so hard that it felt like a sob was being torn from my body. “I won’t. I can’t.”

Mrs. Bethany’s severe, beautiful face seemed to have been etched into the darkness in lines of steel. “Love isn’t worth it, you know.”

“It isn’t only Lucas.” And it wasn’t, though I knew I could never leave him. My parents had told me too many lies. I could forgive them for that, but I needed to know the truth about what I could be—whether there was any choice for me besides becoming a full vampire. My parents wouldn’t help me learn that truth.