Two hours later, Zeke was no longer with us.
He hadn't said anything since our short break in the tunnels, marching on with a set jaw and glassy, pain-filled eyes. The heat pouring from his skin intensified, instantly melting the snow that settled on him when we finally went aboveground, as we hurried from shadow to shadow to avoid the bleeders.
And then, as we crossed a snow-covered parking lot, weaving between rusty hulks of cars, there was a thump behind me, the sound of something hitting the pavement. I whirled and saw Zeke lying in the snow beside a van, as if his body had finally given up.
No . I hurried over to him and knelt, turning him to his back. He groaned, half-opening his eyes, peering at me through glazed blue orbs.
"Zeke," I said, taking his arm. It was so hot. "Come on, get up. We have to keep going."
He tried. Gritting his teeth, he leaned against me as I pulled him upright, but as soon as we tried taking a step, he collapsed again. Panting, he sank back into the snow, ignoring my attempts to keep him on his feet.
"Zeke, don't do this," I said, watching helplessly as he slumped to the ground again. "Get up. We're almost there." I knelt and reached for his arm, but his hand clamped over mine, stopping it.
"Leave me." The words were so soft I scarcely caught them. But my stomach, heart, mind, everything, recoiled in absolute horror, and I stared at him in anguish. "I can't go any farther," Zeke whispered, his voice strained. "Go on without me."
I snarled, furious and defiant. "Dammit, Ezekiel! Don't you dare pull this self-sacrificing crap now. If you think I'm leaving you..." My throat unexpectedly closed up, and I swallowed my despair. "Forget it. There's no way I'm going on without you-"
"Allie." Zeke squeezed my arm, and the words faltered to a stop. "I can't," he murmured, making my throat clench. His hand rose, weakly, to his face. "I can feel the sickness... burning, and it's making me crazy. You have to go on without me. I can't even see straight, much less fight."
"No," I whispered, frantically shaking my head. "I'm not doing this. We can carry you, if it comes to that."
He closed his eyes, the snow falling around him, melting on his forehead and cheeks. "You can't stop Sarren...if you're constantly worried about me," he said, breathing hard between phrases. "He'll use me against you...that's what he does. When you face him again, you can't have...any distractions."
"You are not a distraction," I choked out. He didn't answer or open his eyes, and I clenched my fist against the snow. "Dammit, Zeke! Don't ask me to do this."
Kanin's footsteps crunched behind me, coming to a stop at my back. The Master vampire loomed over us, his gaze solemn as he stared down at the human. Say something, I begged silently. Don't let him do this, Kanin.
"This is your choice," Kanin said, even as I wanted to scream at him. "Are you certain?"
Zeke nodded painfully, opening his eyes. "I know what I have to do," he whispered. "Having me along, when we're so close to Sarren, is dangerous now. I can't go any farther. Allie," he said, looking up at me. "Leave me here. Go on without me."
"Leave you here in the snow?" I demanded. "With the bleeders? You'll be dead before we get back, Zeke. They'll tear you apart."
A scraping of metal, as Kanin turned and wrenched open the side door of the van, revealing a darkened interior and an empty space. "In here," he told me, unconcerned with the glare I turned on him. "Get him out of the open. Hurry. We don't have much time."
"Kanin, you can't expect..."
His hard stare made me trail off. "What happens if we take him with us and Sarren sees him?" he demanded. "What do you think he will do? Or if we are ambushed by the infected again and have to run?" His gaze softened, his forehead wrinkling with sudden pain. "I...am not at my best, Allison. I'm not sure that I will be much help against Sarren when we find him. If we must fight, and Sarren will almost certainly push it that way, then it will be up to you to stop him."
Fear spread through my insides, turning them cold. I didn't want to face Sarren alone. I had thought Kanin would be the one to deal with crazy Psycho Vamp, but it was obvious now that he was barely functioning. It would be me. I would have to fight Sarren. I remembered his tongue on my skin, his face close to mine, taunting Zeke over my shoulder. If Sarren turned on me, if he saw Zeke, sick and unable to defend himself...
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I put Zeke's arm around my neck, lifted him upright, and half pulled, half dragged him into the van. He clenched his jaw, his breath hissing painfully through his teeth as I settled him against the wall opposite the door, kneeling beside him. He panted, squeezing his eyes shut, sweat beading on his forehead and running down his skin. That blazing, sickly heat filled the small interior of the van, driving away the cold.
"Allie," Zeke whispered, dropping his arm, "can you... reach my gun?"
Silently, I reached around his side holster and pulled out the pistol. Zeke eyed it wearily.
"How many bullets?"
With shaking fingers, I checked the clip. "One," I said quietly. "Just one left." Zeke nodded.
"Good. If it comes to that, one shot...is all I'll need."
Dread gripped me. I watched, numb, as Zeke took the gun from my limp grasp and set it down, close to his leg. I had the sudden image of myself walking away from the van, and a shot ringing out behind me. Or returning with Sarren's cure, sliding the door back, and finding a frozen corpse sitting here, the van cold and lifeless. It made me want to scream.
Zeke finally looked at me, warmth breaking through the glassy pain in his eyes. "I'll be all right," he assured me, his voice faint. "I'm not going to do anything stupid, Allison, I just...need to rest. If you find Sarren and get a cure in time, I'll be here. If not...then it won't matter, anyway."
Leaning forward, I touched my forehead to his, closing my eyes. "I'll find him," I promised softly. "Try to hang on. I'm coming back, Zeke, I swear."
Zeke cupped the side of my face, his palm searing hot, as he raised his head and kissed me. Just a slight brush of his lips over mine. "I'll wait, vampire girl," he whispered, tracing my skin with his thumb. "For as long as I can. But, if I don't make it..." He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. His heart, already pounding, sped up, thumping in his chest. "Allie, I..."
"Allison." Kanin's voice echoed from outside, gentle but firm. "We need to go. Now."
Zeke slumped. "Go on," he whispered, pulling back. "Go stop Sarren. Don't worry about me. I'll be here."
Hot tears stung the corners of my eyes. I wanted to stay, to argue more, but words caught in my throat, and there was nothing left to say. Furiously blinking back tears, I drew away from Zeke and stepped out into the snow.
For maybe the last time, I glanced through the frame, at the human watching me from the interior of the van. He offered a faint smile and nodded before I wrenched the door shut, sliding it along the track until it clicked into place. Hiding him from view.
Kanin didn't give me time to second-guess my decision. "Let's go," he said, and spun, continuing through the aisles of cars. I gave the van one last look and followed, feeling Zeke's presence become smaller and smaller behind me.
We walked in silence for a bit, me trailing behind the other vampire, my thoughts on Zeke and how I had likely killed him by leaving him there. Alone, sick and dying in that van. If I'd only insisted he come...but then, that would likely get him killed, too.
"There are no good choices, Allison," Kanin offered in a quiet voice. "There are only those you can live with, and those you can work to change."
My throat felt tight. "I killed him," I whispered, voicing the dread I couldn't allow myself to face a few minutes ago. "He's going to die in there."
"You don't know that," Kanin said. "You're not giving him enough credit. He's fighting it, Allison. At this stage, he should be insensible, mad from the sickness. That he still retains his sense of self is little short of amazing. He might be able to stave it off a little longer."
"Enough to get him the cure?"
"If Sarren has one." Kanin sounded weary. "Though I find that difficult to believe-he's never been one to undo what he has started."
Despair rose up, threatening to crush me. "Why are we doing this, then?"
"Because we must." Kanin's voice and expression remained the same. "Because there is nothing else we can do. Because there is no one else." His voice dropped, becoming nearly inaudible. "I will put my trust in hope once more, and perhaps this time, it will be enough."
Hope. Hope that Sarren had a cure. That it would be enough to save Kanin, Zeke and New Covington. Allie the Fringer would've seen it as foolish-hope was a luxury that could very easily get you killed. But that was what had kept Kanin going all this time, wasn't it? The hope for an end to Rabidism, that he could undo what he had helped cause. It was what had kept Zeke and the others searching for Eden, too. They'd made it only on the strength of their beliefs. And... it was what I held on to with Zeke. The hope that a vampire and a human could defy every instinct and fear, to fight the monster and the bloodlust and the desire to kill, and find a way to be together.
All right, then. I wouldn't give up. I would see this through to the end. For Zeke and Kanin and the city that had been my home for seventeen years, I would also put my trust in that tiny sliver of hope, and cling to it until I was certain everything was lost.
Kanin suddenly stopped at the edge of the street, then quickly backed behind a corner. Wary, I edged up beside him and peeked past the brick.
I recognized the lot across the street, the surrounding buildings, the weed-choked field with its skeletal trees and cement blocks poking out of the grass. The last I'd seen of this place, I'd been fleeing the Prince's coven with Kanin, trying to get out of the city before we were both killed. I couldn't see the ruined, blackened remains of the building across the street, through the grass and twisted old trees, but I knew it was there.
The old hospital. The hidden lab. We'd made it.
"It's too quiet," I remarked as we stood at the edge of the lot, peering across frozen grass, weeds and the leftovers of old buildings. "Do you think Sarren is really here?"
"We'll know soon enough," Kanin muttered.
His voice was tight. I looked at him and tried not to let my worry get the best of me, but it was hard. The entire length of one arm was cracked and peeling, and a hint of bone glimmered through the wasted flesh of one cheek. I knew he was in pain, that just walking was agony for him, no matter how stoic he tried to appear.
"Can you do this?" I whispered. The thought of facing Sarren was terrifying, even more so that I might have to do it alone. I thought of Zeke, dying in the van, alone in a snowy parking lot. It was killing me that I had to leave him behind, but Kanin had been right: Sarren would use him against us. He would do the same to Kanin if he could.
"You should stay here," I told Kanin when he didn't answer. "I can find Sarren alone, Kanin. You don't have to come."
My sire looked at me, and I gave him a brave smile. If I had to face Psycho Vamp by myself to save Zeke and Kanin, I'd do it. It scared the crap out of me, but I would do it.
An almost affectionate look entered his eyes. "No," Kanin murmured, turning to the lot. "Sarren and I... We've been at this for a long time. This war ends tonight. I will not let you face him alone."
"Are you sure?"
His smile turned dangerous, and his dark eyes gleamed. And for a moment, I was reminded that Kanin was a Master vampire, that he was far stronger than I, and that he still had that terrifying demon inside him.
"Let's go," Kanin said quietly, and together we started across the lot toward the distant hospital ruins, walking side by side. Just the two of us, me and my sire, against the most frightening vampire I'd ever known. Whatever came of this night would determine the fate of everything.
As we approached the first of the skeletal buildings, my skin prickled a warning. I could hear movement, shuffling footsteps to either side of us in the dark, the low murmur of voices. Something giggled softly, just as I caught a glint of metal in the weeds that hadn't been there before, and stopped.
Cages. There were cages surrounding the old hospital building, wire kennels built for dogs. Except, these were filled with humans. Humans that bled from self-inflicted wounds, who muttered and giggled to themselves, heedless of the snow falling on them.
Looked like Sarren was here...and expecting us. "Can we sneak around?" I whispered to Kanin. But, at that moment, whether from a timed latch or some kind of wire that I couldn't see, all the cage doors opened with a bang, and the bleeders leaped up, howling. Lurching into the open, one man spotted us over the grass and gave a scream that alerted the whole pack.
So much for sneaking in.
With shrieks and wails, the bleeders flung themselves across the snowy ground, rushing us in a chaotic swarm. I roared my hatred, for them, for Sarren, for this whole stupid mess, and lunged forward with Kanin right beside me.
The first human didn't know what hit him, as my sword passed through his middle in a crimson spray and out the other side. I ripped the blade free and slashed at the pair of attackers filling my vision, carving through one and into another. Tendrils of blood filled the air, and I kept my mouth shut in case any hit me in the face. A huge man with one eye swung a rusty chair at me with both hands. I rolled beneath it, cutting at his leg as I passed, hearing him crash to the ground behind me.
"Allison!"
Kanin stepped in front of me as I was lunging to my feet, blocking a club with his arm. The wood splintered against his forearm, and he roared with pain, driving his blade beneath the man's chin. A woman wielding a steel bar leaped at his back, coming from nowhere, and met my katana slashing down between them, splitting her open.
Another bleeder rushed me, screaming. I snarled and started to meet him, raising my katana to take his head off, but Kanin spun, grabbed my collar and yanked me backward. As I was jerked away, a flash and a sudden boom erupted at the human's feet, the stench of explosives, smoke and charred flesh searing the air.
"Watch out for mines," Kanin warned, setting me beside him. "Sarren likely has this whole place trapped." Another explosion rang out ahead of us, accompanied by a painful screech.
Wary now, I pressed close to Kanin as we faced the last of the bleeders, rushing us from different sides. I dodged the coil of chain whipped at my head and plunged my sword between the man's ribs, while Kanin simply grabbed the face of the human trying to stab him, lifted him off his feet and calmly slit his throat.
As the last of the bleeders crumpled into the snow, I gazed around the trampled, blood-laced field, now eerily silent once more. "Think Sarren knows we're here?" I asked Kanin.
He snorted. "Let's be careful."
Very cautiously, we made our way through the lot, wary of mines, traps, trip wires and other nasty things Sarren might have planted. I trailed behind Kanin, who had an uncanny sense of knowing where hidden dangers lurked in the snow and long grass, sidestepping them with ease. I literally followed in his footsteps, matching my strides to his, stepping where he stepped, until we were past the field and had ducked into the charred, crumbling remains of the old hospital.
Still wary of traps and mines, we picked our way through the ruins. Near a collapsed wall, a yawning, narrow hole plunged straight down into darkness, bringing with it a storm of memories. Me and Kanin, our lessons that had taken place down that dark tube, our hasty retreat from New Covington. I met Kanin's eyes over the gap and wondered if he was thinking of the same.
Or was his mind solely on what waited for us, deep in the bowels of the hospital?
"I'll go first," he said softly. "Stay here. Wait for my signal to come down."
I nodded. Kanin stepped up to the edge and, without hesitation, dropped into the black.
I crossed my arms and listened, trying not to be impatient, trying not to imagine all the things that could happen to Kanin when I wasn't there. Sarren might be lying in ambush. He could've placed mines at the bottom of the elevator shaft. He could have another wave of bleeders waiting in the hospital foyer, ready to attack. I fidgeted and shuffled my feet, stifling the impulse to leap down after him, until Kanin's voice drifted up from the darkness again.
"It's clear."
I dropped into the shaft, not bothering to grab the cables, falling maybe thirty feet to the ground floor. I landed with a grunt and a cloud of plaster dust, and Kanin turned with a look warning me be to be quiet. Ducking a beam, I stepped into a familiar room.
It seemed everything was as we'd left it the night that we fled New Covington. There was the huge desk on the back wall, its tarnished gold letters hanging skewed on the wood. The space in front of the desk where Kanin had taught me to use my katana was clear-no rubble, no debris. The room had a hollow, desiccated feel, the air here not having been disturbed in years.
But, somewhere in this dark, empty tomb, our enemy waited for us.
Kanin jerked his head at me, and we began walking, gliding, across the tiles, making no sound as we moved, two vampires on the hunt for their prey. We didn't bother with the countless rooms down the narrow hallways, Kanin's office and my old room, where I'd slept on the lumpy cot in the corner. Sarren wouldn't be in any of them. There was only one place he would be.
The room past the red door at the end of the stairs.
And once we reached the top of the stairs, it became grimly apparent that Sarren was waiting for us.
Blood coated the steps down to the red door, smeared in thick swaths over the walls, wet and black. Hands and feet had been strung by wire to the ceiling, and a severed head seemed to float in the air among them, lips pulled back in a crazy grin. Above the red door, written in large bloody letters, was: Revelations 21.
"Ready for this?" Kanin asked softly.
Reaching over my shoulder, I pulled my katana, gripping the hilt tightly. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." The severed head suddenly dropped from the ceiling, landing with a wet thump that made me flinch. "Let's get this over with."
We descended the stairwell, stepping over discarded limbs and congealing puddles of blood, making our way to the red door. It was unlocked, the handle turning easily in my palm, the door swinging back with a creak. Beyond the frame, the hall was smeared with more red, the word Revelations written over and over again with different numbers beside it. Kanin put a hand on my shoulder and nodded to the top corner. The broken security camera blinked a tiny red light at us, the lens trained on me like a staring black eye. I shivered, knowing Sarren could be on the other end, watching us right now.
The round door at the end of this hall was also slightly open. Exceedingly wary of traps and ambushes, I edged forward and pushed it back. It groaned as it swung open, and we stepped through the opening, into the room where, six decades ago, monsters were born.
The cells lining the walls were empty, which was a relief. I'd been half expecting them to be full of bleeders that would burst out and attack us. But everything about the room was silent and still. Sarren, unless he was hiding in one of the cages, wasn't in the room.
"Not here," Kanin said in a low, barely audible voice. "We have to go through the last door at the end."
I'd never been through the last door. The farthest I'd gotten was this room, where Sarren had found me after he'd tracked Kanin to the city, and I'd jammed a pocketknife into his eye. I doubted he'd forgotten that.
Kanin's blade was suddenly in his hand. No turning back now. For Kanin, for Zeke, for all of New Covington, we had to face the madman. We moved steadily toward the last door, finding it unlocked, of course, and pushed it open.
For a moment, Kanin didn't move, and neither did I, staring into the darkness beyond the frame. From where I stood, I could make out a few old cots, covered in mold and dust, scattered around the room. Thick leather straps and cuffs dangled from the edges, just like the ones in Old D.C., making my skin crawl. Against the wall, an ancient computer, its screen cracked and distorted, sat beside an odd device with a long tube poking into the air. More cells lined the other wall, with thick steel bars running vertically across the windows and metal doors barred from the outside. Cold, stale air wafted through the door fame, laced with the faintest hint of blood.
A hissing chuckle slithered out of the dark. "Ah, there you are," purred a soft, sibilant voice, somewhere in the shadows of the room. "Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. We have a lot to talk about."
A chill crept up my spine. Gripping my sword, I started forward, but Kanin put a hand out, holding me back. "After me," he muttered, in a voice only I could hear. "If this is a trap, at least you'll be in the clear."
I swallowed. "Be careful, Kanin."
He lowered his arm and stepped through the frame into the room. Nothing happened immediately: no explosion, no sudden projectiles, and the door didn't slam shut behind him. Kanin gazed around calmly and raised his voice. "Sarren. You've obviously been waiting for me. Here I am."
Another evil chuckle. "Oh, Kanin," the voice purred, and he appeared, melting out of the dark to stand before us in the center of the room. My skin crawled as his hideous, scarred face lifted to meet ours. "I have enjoyed our games, old friend," he said, folding his hands before him. "You were a most compelling quarry, and I shall miss our time together. But you have already played your part in this symphony. Your voice, your music, is dying and will soon fade to nothing." His hollow, mad eyes flickered to me, and a smile stretched his face. "I am more interested in the songs the little bird can sing."
I wanted to recoil. Instead, I stepped through the door to stand beside Kanin, giving Psycho Vamp my best challenging glare. "You want me? Here I am."
"Yes," Sarren agreed, clasping his bony hands. "Here you are, little bird. Here you are, and here we are, and the world spins and dies around us." He cocked his head at me, appraising. "But where is your prince? I would think he'd want to be here, to see the end of this symphony."
"He's gone," I snapped, baring my fangs. I was suddenly glad Zeke wasn't here, standing in this creepy room with this insane vampire who would use every weakness to his advantage. "Your virus took him," I went on, not needing to fake the fury and hatred in my voice as I faced Sarren, who raised his eyebrows. "And you are going to give us a cure, right now, or we're going to beat it out of you."
"A cure?" Sarren feigned surprise. "What makes you think I have a cure, little bird?"
I growled, bringing up my sword even as I felt Kanin's warning hand on my arm. I was tired of talking to crazy Psycho Vamp, and I was not in the mood for his sick games. "Do you have one, or not?"
"Oh, let me think. A cure, a cure..." Holding up his empty hands, Sarren took two steps to the edge of the counter. "Do you mean...this cure?"
I should've known not to trust him. I should've been more wary, more on guard, but in the split second I realized he was up to something, his hand flipped a switch over the counter and a brilliant light erupted right in front of us, pinning us in the glare. Blinded, I hissed and turned away, shielding my eyes, hearing Kanin do the same. And in that moment, something grabbed me from behind, clamping my sword arm beneath it, and a sharp wooden point was shoved under my breastbone, angled up toward my heart.
"Hello, sister," a familiar voice whispered in my ear. "Bet you didn't expect to see me again."
