Blue Moon
RICHELLE MEAD
 
 
 
 
I was trapped.
I’d thought this back door led to freedom. Instead, I found myself in a narrow alley, the only other exit leading back to the main road where cops and others were looking for me. What was I going to do? I hesitated, wondering if the street was safer than going back through the club. Before I could decide, though, I heard a a door close behind me. I spun around.
There was a human standing there. A guy. He looked like he was about my age, maybe a little older. His brown hair was a bit shaggy for my tastes, but his eyes were beautiful. They were a deep, deep green. Like the color emeralds are supposed to be but never are. When I looked at him, the weirdest jolt went through me. He was cute, but it wasn’t physical attraction that suddenly gave me pause. It was more like a sense of recognition, as though I’d known him for years. That made no sense; I’d never seen him before. I shook off the feeling, and, as my eyes swept his body, I saw something else even more beautiful: a purple badge clipped to his belt.
“Get me out of here,” I said, mustering as much harshness as I could, given the circumstances. If he worked at this club—and his clothing suggested he did—then he was used to taking orders from vampires. “Take me to your car.”
I waited for him to cower, for his eyes to go wide. Maybe he’d gulp or give me a shaky nod. Instead, he frowned and asked, “Why?”
I stared, momentarily at a loss for words. “Because I told you to!”
Those beautiful eyes assessed me the way mine had just done him. “You’re afraid,” he said, more puzzled than anything else. “Why? Vampires are never afraid.”
“I’m not afraid—but I’m going to get mad if you don’t do what I tell you to do.” Desperate, I reached into my purse and pulled out a wad of cash. I didn’t bother to count it, but there were some hundreds on top. “Will you stop asking questions if I give you this?”
This time, his eyes did go wide. He hesitated only a moment and then snatched the money from my hand. “Come on.”
I followed him back inside the club. I’d entered earlier through its main door, cutting through mobs of people writhing to heavy techno beats. This guy took me down another hall, one that led past a kitchen and some storage rooms. At the hallway’s end was another outside door. He pushed it open, revealing a darkened parking lot surrounded by a wire fence.
He unlocked a rusty Honda Civic, and I scurried in, nervously glancing around me. Aside from the silent cars, the parking lot was empty. For the first time tonight, I allowed myself the brief hope that I might actually get out of this alive.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Nathan,” he said, glancing behind him as he backed out of the parking spot. “You?”
“Lucy.” A moment later, I silently cursed myself for giving my real name. What was I thinking? I gave him a sidelong glance, wondering if the name meant anything to him—it had been all over the news, after all—but he appeared to be too preoccupied with driving.
We pulled out onto the main road, and I slouched in my seat. This was a party district. Groups of people were everywhere. Some walked along the street, going from club to club. Some were already in line at the clubs—humans, of course. Vampires rarely had to wait to get in.
I scanned the crowds, looking for any sign of my pursuers and finding none. Not that that meant anything. Bryan had a vast network of agents working for him, men and women who moved with stealth and speed unusual even among vampires.
“Okay, Lucy,” said Nathan, still not sounding very respectful. “Where do you want me to drop you off at?”
“Lakemont.”
“Lake—what? That’s almost two hours away!”
“For the amount of money I gave you, you should drive me somewhere twelve hours away.”
“I have to get back to work! I’m on break. I thought I was just dropping you off somewhere.”
“You are. Lakemont.”
“No way. I can’t be gone for four hours. I’ll lose my job.”
“Get another one.”
He scoffed. “Oh, great. That’s so typical of you vamps. ‘Get another one.’ Like it’s that easy.”
“That money I gave you is more than you make in a week,” I snapped. “Probably even a month.”
“Yeah, but what about after that?”
“Look,” I said. “You don’t have a choice here. Either take me to Lakemont, or go ahead and try to drop me off somewhere. As soon as you stop the car, I’m going to rip your throat out.”
It was an empty threat. I didn’t need to feed, nor did I have any intention to when there were so many other things to worry about right now. Still, I hoped I sounded scary and convincing.
Nathan didn’t answer. He also didn’t stop the car. After several minutes of quiet driving, he said, “We’ll never get through the checkpoints.”
“You have a purple badge.” It was the reason I’d forced him to help me, after all. “You must commute in and out of the city.”
“I do. I can get through. You could too—technically. But something tells me you don’t actually want the patrols to see you.”
My stomach sank. I hadn’t thought of that. “Maybe I can hide in the trunk.”
He laughed, though there was a hint of bitterness in it. Weirdly, something about the sound of his laughter still sent a pleasant tingle down my spine. Too bad I was the one he was laughing at. “You’ve never had to be stopped and searched at the checkpoints, have you?”
“They’ll search the trunk?”
“Sometimes. They do random checks a lot. And if they think there’s something suspicious going on, then they’ll definitely check.”
I turned away and leaned my cheek against the window. The glass was cool against my skin. Hot tears welled up in my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to send them away. No way was I going to cry in front of him.
“Why are you running away?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. Bad enough vampires knew. I couldn’t risk letting a human find out.
“Okay, whatever.”
“You don’t even care. You’re just doing this for the money anyway.”
“I’m doing it because you threatened to rip my throat out.”
“And for the money.”
He gave a half-shrug, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “If you’re in big enough trouble, maybe I’d get more for turning you in.”
I actually had a feeling he would, so I again tried my best to sound fierce. I’d never actually had to force humans to do things for me before. They’d always just kind of . . . done them. “These people after me are vampires. Not humans. If you think I’m dangerous, wait’ll you see them. And if they think you helped me escape—and they will—getting paid is going to be the last thing on your mind.”
More silence fell between us, and I realized we were already on the freeway. Maybe I was better at this than I thought.
“You got more money?” he asked.
“Why? Are you raising your rates?”
“Answer the question if you actually want to leave the city.”
“Yeah. I have more.”
“A lot more?”
“Yes. A lot more. How much do you need?”
His answer was to get off at the next exit and start heading back in the direction we’d come from.
“What are you doing?” I exclaimed.
“Getting you out of the city.”
He took us to a part of town I’d rarely been in. Mostly humans lived there, but naturally, vampires ran it. It was dirty and rundown and not a place I’d feel safe walking around if I were a human.
Nathan pulled the car up in front of a shop with a window that said TATTOOS in neon letters.
“Okay. Let’s see the rest of your money.”
I dug into my purse and handed over my cash. He raised an eyebrow.
“Wow. You weren’t kidding.” He counted out half of it and then, to my surprise, gave me back the rest. “Hang on to this.”
Puzzled but intrigued, I followed him into the tattoo parlor. Loud rock music blared at us. Through an open doorway, I caught a glimpse of a bald man wielding what I assumed were tattooist’s needles in a backroom. At the counter, a man with a Mohawk laughed with a heavily pierced girl over some joke. They glanced up at us.
“Nate, you bastard,” said the man, still laughing. “Long time no—” His smile faded as he took a good look at me and saw my eyes. The girl visibly paled. Both of them straightened up. The man grabbed a remote control and hastily shut off the loud music, so that the only sound came from a small TV sitting behind them. “Hello, miss. Is there something we can help you with?”
Nathan laughed and—to my complete and utter surprise—threw an arm around me. The smell of his skin and sweat washed over me—and it was delicious. “Relax with the yes-sir-no-sir stuff, Pete. She’s with me—doing a little human slumming this weekend.”
Some of the tension went out of them, but they were still eyeing me nervously. “Well, good for you, Nate,” said Pete, not entirely sounding like he meant it.
“Think you can make her human?” Nathan asked.
Pete smiled and nudged the girl. “Oh, into that, huh? Sure, Donna can do that. Contacts and everything?”
“The works.” Nathan’s entire posture was relaxed, his smile easy and natural. He was a completely different person than the one who’d been in the car. Of course, I’d threatened to rip his throat out in the car, so the difference was understandable. Meanwhile, I was trying not to think about how good he smelled. “Something else. . . .” Nathan touched the badge on his belt. “I don’t suppose you could make a purple?”
Pete’s tension returned. “Whoa, that’s a bit out of the norm.”
“We can pay.”
Pete glanced between the two of us. “It’s for her? Why does she need it? How far are you taking the role-playing?”
“Nothing like that. I just want to take her home with me—but we can’t let anyone know. She’s got a jealous boyfriend.”
“Sounds like a lot of trouble and money. Easier to just stay in the city.”
“Can you do it or not?”
“Yeah . . . take me about an hour or so, and you know it’s never as exact as the real thing. You get caught—”
“—and I won’t say where I got it,” finished Nathan. “I know the drill.”
Pete went to the backroom to make our counterfeit badge and told Donna to give me the works. She beckoned me over but I turned back toward Nathan and gripped his shirt, pulling him slightly toward me.
“What’s going on?” I hissed. “You guys make it sound like a common thing, vampires dressing up like humans.”
“Wow, you really are an innocent, aren’t you?” He seemed genuinely amused. “Don’t you know any vamps who do it?”
I frowned. “No. Why would they? Like . . . for costume parties?”
“No. Because it’s a turn-on for them.”
“Ew.”
“People are into weird things.” He pointed toward Donna. “Go.”
Donna was a little older than me—maybe in her twenties—and had obviously bleached-blond hair and too much eye shadow. As she worked, it was clear she was afraid of me. Conversation eventually dropped, except for when Nathan made the occasional remark on our progress.
“What color do you want?” she asked at one point.
“Color what?”
“Contacts. Your eyes.”
I didn’t know what to say. It was something I’d never even thought about, changing my eye color. My eyes were silver, just like every other vampire’s. For a moment, I considered Nathan’s beautiful green, but that didn’t seem right. Those were his eyes.
“How about blue?” said Donna impatiently. “You seem like you could do blue.”
“Blue,” I repeated weakly.
She retrieved a pack of contacts and spent the next half-hour trying to help me get them into my eyes. I couldn’t use a mirror, and I liked neither my own fingers nor hers poking me. Once the contacts were in, she applied a bit more makeup and finished just as Pete returned. He took my picture with a digital camera and then disappeared with Donna into the back to finish the badge.
Nathan walked over and checked me out. “Not bad. You make a cute human. Just don’t smile and show your fangs.”
“I don’t look like Donna, do I? Her makeup’s horrible.” I realized how that sounded. “Oh, sorry. She’s not a friend of yours, is she?”
“Your makeup’s fine. And no, I’ve never met her. Pete’s always got a different girlfriend.”
“Is he your friend?”
“Kind of. We used to work together at a restaurant when I was in high school. Then he got some money and opened up this place.”
“Are you in college now?”
“I should be.” I immediately regretted asking him because that easy humor he’d shown since we’d come in disappeared. Bitterness replaced it. “No money. Besides, I spent so much time working in high school that my grades sucked. I’m not good enough to get an academic scholarship and not connected enough to get a vamp endorsement.”
I was about to say that I could talk to my father, that he could probably get Nathan an endorsement. It was something vampires did if they wanted favored humans to be trained or educated for a certain position. These humans breezed through the college admissions process and had all their expenses paid for.
I swallowed off the comment, suddenly remembering everything that had happened. I could hardly talk to my father about that. In fact, it was unlikely I’d ever talk to him again. Instead, I told Nathan, “I’m sorry.”
“Unbelievable. I’ve never heard a vampire apologize in my life. And now I’ve heard you do it twice since we’ve been—”
The words dropped off as his eyes focused on something behind me. Confused, I turned around . . .
. . . and looked into my own face on the TV.
Seeing my image was always a little surreal. Since vampires cast no reflections, we’d had no way of seeing our own appearances for eons. With the advent of technology like video and photographs, we’d finally gotten a way to see what we looked like.
They’d picked a horrible photo of me. I had dark circles under my eyes that made my skin look whiter than usual. Even on film, the clear silvery-gray of my vampiric eyes showed through. My hair—plain, boring brown—looked like it hadn’t been brushed that day. Where had they found that picture?
“Ugh,” I said. Underneath the image, a perky blond reporter delivered news of my disappearance.
“Today, authorities are looking for Lucy Wade, daughter of Chicago philanthropist and business owner Douglas Wade. Lucy disappeared earlier this evening after a fight with her parents. She is described as a troubled teen, one with a history of drug abuse and stints of running away.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “I’ve never touched drugs in my life!”
“She was last seen on St. Jane Avenue, entering Club Fathom. If anyone has information to offer about Ms. Wade, they should contact the police. Her family says they’re anxious to get Lucy the help she needs and are offering a reward for any assistance.”
Nathan turned on me. “What the hell? You’re Lucy Wade?” He spoke low enough so the others wouldn’t hear, but the anger came through loud and clear.
There was no avoiding it. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
He threw up his hands and began pacing the room. “Oh my God. Oh my God. I helped hide Douglas Wade’s fugitive daughter. Douglas Wade! He owns Fathom. He’s like, my boss’s boss’s boss.”
“I know.”
“He owns this town!”
“I know!”
“You made it sound like you were some wronged victim, and really, your parents just want to put you back in rehab!”
“No,” I said. “That’s not true. All of that stuff she just said is a lie.”
Nathan spun around, face still angry. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a vamp. What are you, part of some conspiracy, and they’re trying to keep you quiet?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Tell me then.”
“I . . . can’t. I can’t tell anyone. I know something I’m not supposed to, and they want to kill me for it. They will kill me, Nathan. My own family.”
It was like I hadn’t spoken. “Jesus Christ. I’m helping the junkie daughter of one of the most powerful vamps in town. I should just walk away now. If you do kill me, it’s no worse than what they’re going to do when they find me.”
I jumped off my chair and ran up to him. “No. Please. Don’t. Look, you don’t even have to take me to Lakemont. Just drop me off as soon as we cross the border.”
He looked down at me, his eyes like green flames. There was so much rage there, so much frustration. I had the uneasy feeling that when he looked at me, he was seeing years of vampire abuse. A lifetime’s worth, really. My kind had come out of hiding and started their occupation of the human world before he was born. Before today, I’d never really thought what it must be like to live under another race’s rule—a race that you had almost no hope of defeating. We were stronger, faster, and could only be killed by a stake through the heart—which humans could almost never get close enough for. I had no clue what Nathan had been through.
“Please,” I whispered. “You can have all the rest of the money.”
He stared at me for several more heavy moments, and as he did, something shifted in that angry expression. I couldn’t explain it, but I suddenly knew he’d had that same weird feeling I’d had in the alley. Like there was a connection between us, some longtime familiarity. He sighed. Turning away, he flipped off the TV. “Last thing I need is for Pete to see that. Hopefully, I can get rid of you before anyone realizes I was anywhere near you. He should be just about done.”
But after ten miserable minutes of silence passed, Nathan finally eyed the doorway with suspicion. He walked over to it and stuck his head in. “Pete?” No answer came, and Nathan ventured farther in. Thirty seconds later, he came tearing out of the room. He grabbed my arm and jerked me toward the main door. I was so surprised that I stumbled along with him. If I’d wanted to, my strength would have stopped him from even budging me.
“What’s going on?” I asked as we stepped back outside.
“They’re all gone. There was a TV on back there too. My guess is they saw the story, sold us out, and then took off.”
We slid into the car, and he started up the engine. Once we’d pulled away from the curb and were on the road, he handed me the fake badge. They’d apparently finished it and then abandoned it. It said my name was Sara Brown, that I was an eighteen-year-old human, and that I had work clearance to cross out of the city to the suburbs. Most intriguing of all was the picture. Donna had done a good job of diminishing some of my paleness. I wasn’t fake-baked or anything, but there was definitely a human-like color to my face. And the eyes . . . the eyes were exquisite. They were a clear, pale blue. I was entranced.
“At least we didn’t have to pay for it,” I pointed out.
“Not that it does us a lot of good. We can’t cross over.”
“Why not?”
“Pete would have told the police I was with you. By now, they’ve pulled up everything there is to know about me—including my car and license plate. Every checkpoint knows we’re coming and what we’ll be in.”
The urge to cry returned, and I again shoved it back. I tried hard to be strong and think of a solution on my own.
“Can we steal a car?”
He cut me a look. “Do you know how to?”
“Well, no.”
“Do you think I know how to? You think that’s something all lower class humans know how to do? That we’re all criminals?”
“Well, no . . . of course not. I mean—”
“But,” he interrupted, “you might be on to something.” He abruptly pulled over to the curb and opened the car door. “Come on.”
I scurried out after him. “What are we doing?”
“Finding other transportation.”
We cut through a parking lot and ended up on a street that reminded me of the one Club Fathom was on. Only, much like in the tattoo parlor’s neighborhood, everything here was dirtier and plainer. We stood off to the side, and Nathan studied the crowds. People who walked past us didn’t give us a second glance. We were both just ordinary humans.
Finally, his eyes landed on two guys walking out of a bar. One held a set of keys and a bit of purple showed near his waist. Nathan took my hand, and we ran up to them. He turned the smile back on.
“Hey, man, are you guys going out of the city?” Nathan flashed them his purple badge.
One of the guys was clearly drunk, and the other (the driver, I hoped) looked like he was in a good mood. “Yeah, out to Evanston.”
“Our car broke down,” said Nathan. “And there’s no way we can get it fixed before curfew. Can we bum a ride with you? Doesn’t matter where you drop us off—just get us out, and then I’ll call my friends.”
The two guys exchanged glances, then looked back at us. “Sure,” said the sober one. “No problem.” They must have decided we were harmless enough. Little did they know.
Once we were on the road, the two guys talked to each other, practically forgetting we were in the backseat.
“What did you want to study in college?” I asked Nathan, keeping my voice low. “Drama?”
He’d been staring out the window, face stormy, no doubt pondering how I’d ruined his life. “Huh?”
“You’re doing a pretty good acting job with everyone,” I explained.
He gave me a bitter smile. “When you could potentially be killed by a vamp mob boss, you suddenly get really good at acting. But for the record? You’re terrible. I never actually believed you were going to rip my throat out.”
“Oh,” I said, hearing the disappointment in my own voice.
“You aren’t eighteen yet, are you?”
“No.”
“How much longer until you are?”
“Less than a year.”
A bit of worry crossed his features. “Oh. You could still make a kill now.”
“I won’t. I’m . . . I’m going to wait.”
All vampires had to have their first feeding by the time they turned eighteen, and there were times I felt that desire for blood waking up, even though the thought of actually killing someone in cold blood terrified me. That was why I was in no rush for the kill—that and I had a few other things on my mind, like staying alive. My mom wouldn’t get to throw her big first-kill party for me. Of course, if Bryan and the others caught me soon, maybe my parents could just use the decorations and caterers for my funeral.
I moved the subject back. “So, what would you study in college?”
“Mmm. I don’t know. Something different. Something with meaning. Something that could change the world.” There was an inspired, almost wistful look on his face. A moment later, he seemed to replay his words and grow embarrassed at having admitted something so idealist and vulnerable. His face darkened. “Something that isn’t a bartender.”
“Well, even if you can’t go to college . . . maybe you could do some other kind of work?”
He shook his head, expression darkening once more. “There you go again, Lucy. You still don’t see what it’s like, not from your position.”
“Why is it so hard? You’re smart and nice and obviously resourceful. Why can’t you do something else?”
He seemed a little surprised at the compliments, but that didn’t sidetrack him. “You’re a vampire. You’re at the top of the food chain. Our master. You can do anything you want. You can kill us if you want, and really, there are no consequences.”
“The lottery—”
“Oh, come on. Even you can’t be naïve enough to believe that the lottery is always followed.”
To ration our food supply, we’d instituted an annual feeding system. Certain populations of humans—criminals, the poor, other undesirables—were put into a pool and when each vampire’s feeding time came, he or she drew a name. It was why the border between the city and the suburbs was so strictly regulated. It made it easier to track down the “winners.” Who got put into the pool was sketchy sometimes, and as he had pointed out, the system wasn’t always followed. Plenty of vampires indulged in non-regulatory snacks, even if it was technically illegal. But when humans disappeared, few people asked questions.
“I can see why you hate us,” I said feebly.
He turned back to the window. “No. You really can’t.”
“Do you hate me?”
“I don’t know what I think of you. You’ve probably destroyed my life. I should turn you in at the border . . . and yet. . . .”
“What?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. There’s something weird about you. Something . . . well, I can’t explain it. It’s like I’ve known you for a long time. God, that sounds so stupid.”
Not entirely stupid. I knew exactly what he meant, though I still didn’t understand it either.
For the rest of the drive, I just sat back and thought. My whole life had changed. Everything I’d expected to do with it seemed impossible now. In my mind’s eye, I could still see the disc, that beautiful circle embossed with gold and silver, covered in swirls and shapes that everyone assumed were nonsensical designs created by a long-dead vampire artisan. But when I’d looked at it, the symbols had spoken to me. Looking at them was like reading a billboard. The message had come through to me loud and clear—and everyone had realized it. My father and Bryan had acted quickly, and I’d barely managed to escape.
“Here we are,” said Nathan, interrupting my thoughts.
The car slowed down, and ahead, I recognized the signs of a border checkpoint. Long stretches of cruel, barbed fences. Towering, blinding lamp posts. My heart raced as I recalled what Nathan had said about random checks.
He and I handed our badges to the driver. A moment later, a vampire in a uniform peered through the open window. He looked bored, probably at the end of his shift and tired of inspecting cars. He skimmed through the stack of badges, hardly even looking at them. Hope surged in me. Pete would have tipped the authorities off to my fake badge name, but border security was probably paying a lot more attention to cars with just a guy and a girl. The vampire handed the badges back and then shone a flashlight on all of our faces. It lingered on mine, and suddenly, he looked a little less bored. After a few moments of studying me, the guard said, “Pull through to the holding area.” He stepped back, pointing to a spot off to the side of the wooden gate that admitted traffic.
“Damn it,” said the guy driving. He didn’t sound scared so much as annoyed. “I just want to get home.”
I shot Nathan a panicked look. He placed a reassuring hand on mine, seemed surprised, and took it back. “This happens. It’s random.”
We got out of the car, and a bored-looking uniformed woman searched it. Meanwhile, the guy who’d looked in the window searched us. He had everyone turn out their pockets, and then he felt each of us down. I was the last one he came to. I tensed, fearing recognition, and then suddenly realized that wasn’t what I needed to be afraid of.
He pushed me up against the passenger side of the car, standing so close that there was almost no space between us. I felt trapped, suffocated. Then, when his hands began running up and down my body, I thought I would scream. He spent much longer ‘searching’ me than he had the others, far more interested in my body itself than anything I might be hiding on it. Beyond him, I saw Nathan glowering.
“Will you hurry up?” asked the other guard, clearly annoyed.
“Hang on,” said my guard. “She seems dangerous.”
I knew I was trembling and hated myself for it, even though it was what a human would probably do. A human girl would stand there, afraid, and take this humiliation. That was all I had to do. It’d be over soon if I could just be patient.
But when his hands slid under my shirt and up to the bottom edge of my bra, I snapped. Anger burst up inside of me. Before he realized what was happening, I lashed out and grabbed him, throwing him as far and as hard as I could into the small brick building that stood at the border. We both had the same vampiric strength and reflexes, but I’d caught him totally unprepared. He hit the wall with a thwack and slumped to the ground, unmoving. His face was dazed and blank, but I knew I hadn’t killed him. He would heal soon, just like all vampires did.
The woman stood there, stunned for a moment. Then her eyes widened with recognition. “Lucy Wade,” she exclaimed, just before leaping out at me.
I blocked her attack as best I could. We were close in size, but she’d been trained to fight, and I hadn’t. I hit the side of the car with a jolt, rattling my teeth. She came at me again while yelling for back-up. I swung at her with a very bad punch. I missed her face but hit her shoulder, which made her stagger a little. Any minute now, reinforcements would show up or the guy I’d thrown was going to get up.
Suddenly, I heard a car door slam. From the driver’s side window, I heard Nathan yell, “Lucy, get in!” The engine started up.
I dodged a punch. Eyeing the woman carefully, I waited for her next swing. It came, and I dropped to the ground and scrambled away. I made it to the other side of the car, but she was only footsteps behind. I slid into the backseat on the driver’s side. She reached for me, and I slammed the door on her hand. She screamed in pain and jerked back. I shut the door.
She beat on the side of the car, but Nathan hit the gas, heading straight toward the wooden gate. We hit it. The impact pushed my head sharply against the backseat, but we kept on going through a shower of splinters. I suspected the car’s front didn’t look so good.
I righted myself from my sprawl. “You’re insane,” I said. Peering around him, I saw that we were going about eighty. I glanced back, half-expecting to see flashing lights. There were none yet, but it could only be a matter of time.
“Me? You’re the one who decided to take on the border patrol.”
“That guy was a pervert.”
“They’re all like that,” said Nathan. “Well, okay. They’re not all the girl-molesting types, but that kind of stuff goes on all the time—and things a lot worse than that too.”
“Thanks for another lesson on how terrible vampires are.”
I couldn’t see his face, but I had a feeling he looked sheepish. “Are . . . are you okay?”
“Yeah. He didn’t do much.” Something warm swirled in me at the thought that Nathan might actually be worried about me.
The car suddenly swerved off onto an angling road, and I slid to the side, just barely putting my hands out in time to brace myself.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You still want to go to Lakemont?”
Did I? We can help you. We’ll protect you. The words echoed in my mind.
“Yeah.”
“Then we can’t take the main road. There’s going to be an army coming after us.”
Even off the freeway, Nathan kept up an aggressive speed. We rode in silence for a long time, and finally, I asked, “What happened?”
“Hmm?”
“Something happened to you. It’s why you hate vampires.”
“What, you haven’t seen enough tonight to figure out why I’d hate you guys?”
Yes, I certainly had. And it was bothering me. I’d played human for less than two hours and learned more than I wanted to about the interactions between our races. And yet, that strange sense I had about Nathan told me there was something more that I needed to hear.
“But I want to know what happened to you.”
I thought for sure he’d ignore me. Finally, he talked.
“When I was about twelve, there were these vampires who kept giving my brother Adam a hard time. He was, oh, ten, I think. They lived a few streets over—in a much nicer neighborhood—but used to come over to ours to cause trouble. They kept beating him up—never killed him or tried to feed off him. My other brother and I tried to stop them. We were pretty good fighters, but that doesn’t matter when you’re going up against that kind of strength. They’d just brush us aside. They weren’t really interested in us. I think they just liked going after Adam because he was so small. They thought it was funny. Finally, my dad went and complained to their parents.”
“And?”
“And, just like that, my dad was blacklisted. He got fired from his job, and no one else would hire him. My mom had to work, but she didn’t have it much easier than my dad did. What she was finally able to get hardly earned anything, and so as the rest of us got older, we all started working too.” The expression on his face made me think he wasn’t even seeing me anymore. He was off in his memories, reliving events from years ago. “The thing is, not long after my dad complained, those guys came back for my brother—and they had a lot more of their friends. They cornered him alone one night and just pummeled him.”
“Did they—did he—”
“Die? No. But he was in really bad shape. He had to go to the hospital. Another bill we couldn’t afford. They broke his leg—shattered the bone in some weird way. The doctor technically reset it, but . . . well, it never healed right, and he has a permanent limp.”
“‘Technically reset it?’”
“Well, yeah. We’re pretty sure the doctor, even though he was human, was on a vamp’s payroll and told not to treat it properly.” He paused. Preparing himself for the next part? “Not long after that, my uncle was taken.”
“Taken?”
“For the lottery. He didn’t meet the criteria, but . . . well, he ended up in the pool anyway. And one day, he was just gone.”
I leaned my head back. “That’s horrible. You were right.”
“Right about what?”
“Earlier . . . I said I could understand why you hated us, and you said I couldn’t. You were right. There’s no way I could—no way I probably ever could. You mean it—really mean it—when you say you hate vampires. I get that now.”
“Yes, Lucy. I hate them. I really hate them. If I had the power to kill every vampire in the world and make things the way they used to be, I would.” There was venom in his voice, and even though there was no way he could kill me, I felt afraid.
“I would too,” I said.
“Would what?”
“Hate vampires.”
Long silence followed. “I never expected to hear a vampire say that.”
“Nathan . . . why are you helping me?”
“I don’t know,” he said, sounding as confused as me. “Maybe it’s because other vampires hate you, and by helping you, I’m getting back at them. Maybe it’s because I’m trapped in this and have no choice. Maybe it’s because I keep saying horrible things about you and your kind, but you’re still nice to me. Maybe it’s because. . . .”
My breath caught. In the midst of all this chaos tonight, some tiny part of me hoped he’d say something as sweet and simple as, Because I like you. “Because?”
“I don’t know. I can’t explain it, and it’s driving me crazy.”
The rest of the drive passed uneventfully. No pursuers. Thanks to Nathan’s side route, it almost seemed like we might pull this off.
Lakemont arrived much more quickly than expected. I gave Nathan the address I had, and we drove around for a while looking for it. It turned out to be a small house set at the far end of a fancy subdivision overlooking Lake Michigan. The neighborhood was still under construction, so some houses were half-finished and some were simply empty lots. We pulled into the driveway and stared at the house for several moments.
“Now what?” Nathan asked.
“Now we go in. Or, well, I do. You don’t have to come with me.”
“Is it safe?”
I thought back to the terrified vampire who’d found me just as things were blowing up back home. He’d whispered that he knew what was going on and that there were others who wanted to help me and keep me safe. He’d given me this address and then disappeared, frightened of discovery. I didn’t blame him.
“These people are going to help me,” I said. “They know what’s going on.”
“I’m glad somebody does.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, meaning it. I got out of the car, and several moments later, Nathan followed. He didn’t look very happy.
We rang the bell and waited. An old human woman, a servant presumably, looked out at us in confusion.
“I’m Lucy,” I said.
She studied me longer, then laughed shakily. “I didn’t recognize you, Miss Wade. The eyes are very clever. Come in. You and your . . . friend. You’re safe now.”
We stepped inside a very ordinary-looking house. There was no furniture in it yet; it must have just been constructed. There were no lights on either, but vampires wouldn’t need them. We followed our guide into the living room, our footsteps echoing on the wood floors.
Ten other people were in the living room, all in suits, and even with my eyes, I couldn’t make out their faces very well. Uneasiness started to crawl down my spine. I’d focused so hard on getting here, convincing myself I’d be safe . . . now I wondered if I was as naïve as Nathan kept saying. These vampires could be here to kill me—though it seemed terribly elaborate. The guy who’d given me the address could have just killed me back in Chicago.
“We aren’t going to hurt you,” said a short woman. “We want to keep you safe, Lucy. My name’s Laurel.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“Get you out of here. When daylight comes, we’ll bundle you up and smuggle you out in a van so that no one can find you.”
“Why are you doing this for her?” asked Nathan. “Why do you care?”
“Because we know Lucy’s being pursued unfairly,” said Laurel. “And you are . . . ?”
“None of your business. And she’s not going anywhere with you until we know what’s going on.” His manner was protective and fierce.
I wanted to tell him there was no need for bravery, except I honestly wasn’t sure. Laurel laughed and shifted slightly. A patch of light from outside fell over her face. Her eyes still looked dark. Dark. Not silver.
Realizing what I’d discovered, Laurel moved at the same time I did. I locked into a defensive posture, expecting attack, but it was Nathan she grabbed. She put a gun to his head and jerked him toward her. The men with her all pulled out guns of their own and encircled her. I looked from shadowy face to shadowy face, trying to figure out how to get us out of here. This was a strange twist. My father and Bryan had sent humans after me.
“Nathan’s not involved with this,” I said. “He doesn’t know anything.”
“Cooperate, and we’ll let him go,” Laurel said. “You have no real choice.”
“I’m not letting you take me back to my parents!”
“Your parents? My dear, we have no intention of taking you back to your people so that they can kill you. We want you alive—we want you very alive.”
I understood then. How could I have been so stupid? So naïve? When I’d originally believed these were vampires who wanted to help me, I’d assumed it was because they didn’t believe in the prophecy and pitied me. Upon discovering they were humans, I’d believed they’d been sent by my father. Plenty of vampires had humans working for them. The whole time, I’d been blind to one simple fact: The reason all these vampires wanted me to die was the very same reason humans would want me to live. “Yes,” she said, no doubt seeing the understanding on my face. “We know. We know about the disc and the blue moon. Come with us, and we’ll make sure you stay alive. We want to help you.”
“You want to use me.” They were some kind of human anti-vampire resistance group, people who were trying to “change the world” and eradicate vampires—just like Nathan wanted to do.
“The way I understand it, you benefit too. Wouldn’t that be nice? Being able to go in the sun? Not needing blood?”
“I’m not going to kill my own people!”
“They’re trying to kill you,” said one of the men.
He was right, and it was something I’d been thinking about all day. I’d said—swore—I’d never fulfill the prophecy. But the more this went on, the more I started to wonder. Why was I trying to save people who wanted me dead? And yet, as angry as that made me, I knew falling in with Laurel’s group wasn’t the right course of action. They didn’t care what I wanted either. I was only a weapon to them.
“What are you talking about?” said Nathan. “Why would she kill her own people?”
Laurel pressed the barrel closer to his head. “Tell him, Lucy. Tell him the story.”
“Let him go,” I repeated.
“I told you I would if you cooperated. I want to hear this from your lips. I want you to tell us everything you know.”
“Lucy. . . .”
Nathan’s eyes were wide with fear and confusion. He was worried about me, I realized, worried about me even with a gun against his own head.
“You don’t have to tell them anything, Lucy,” he said. But I had to. His life was on the line—and it was all my fault. I swallowed. “I can kill them. All of them.”
“All of who?”
“The vampires.”
“Vampires can already kill vampires.”
“I can make it so humans can kill vampires.” Saying it out loud hurt. It made it more real, and I’d been trying so hard tonight to keep it out of my mind, to deny what I was. What I could do. “There’s this prophecy we’ve always had. No one really believed it. It said one vampire would be born during the blue moon—you know, when a month is long and has an extra full moon in it? That vampire’s eighteenth birthday will also occur during a blue moon. That’s me. Both birthdays falling on a blue moon.”
Nathan was riveted. The other humans were too, no doubt having longed to hear this for some time.
“That could apply to a lot of people,” Nathan said hesitantly.
“There’s more. We have this thing in a museum—it’s thousands of years old. A disc with a bunch of writing on it—but no one can read it. It’s gibberish. Except I can. I looked at it, and it made perfect sense. It told me how humans can destroy vampires.”
“No one’s been able to do that. . . .” I could hear the wonder in his voice, and I remembered his words from earlier, talking about how he’d do anything to kill vampires. “But why would anyone think you’d help do it?”
“The prophecy says I have the power to transform humans into vampire killers—people who’d have the same strength and powers as us, maybe more. And that after I create thirteen . . . something will happen to me. I’ll still have all my strength and long life but none of the side effects. I’ll be able to go out in the daylight. I won’t need blood.”
“So they think you’d sell them out because of that. They’re afraid and want to get you out of the picture, so you don’t ruin their rule. And this group wants you so that you can bring humans back into power.”
“You’re one of us, Nathan,” said Laurel. “You should see the opportunity here.”
“She doesn’t want to conquer either race,” he retorted. “You should leave her alone.”
I’d been sizing the group up the whole time we spoke, looking for any weakness I could use. I’d come up with a few options when the windows behind them suddenly shattered.
And vampires swooped in.
I couldn’t believe I’d ever mistaken these humans for vampires. My people were fast and graceful, instantly spreading out. There were as many of them as the humans, but I knew who would win this fight.
“Hello, Lucy,” said a familiar voice. I looked up at Bryan’s face. He’d been my family’s bodyguard for years, and now he’d been sent to be my assassin. “Nice eyes.”
Chaos broke out.
Laurel and her humans turned on the vampires. Guns went off—guns that could hurt vampires but not kill them. Teeth ripped into flesh. It was bloody and terrible. Nathan and I were forgotten as each group tried to establish dominance and claim me as the prize. Free of Laurel, Nathan scurried through the fray and jerked me away toward the front door.
“Come on,” he said. “We have to go while they’re fighting.”
We looked out the front window. Our car was still parked on the street, but it wasn’t alone: Four vampires stood watch near it. Bryan wasn’t stupid enough to leave us an easy escape.
“What do you think?” Nathan cast an uneasy glance outside.
“I think the two of us might be able to distract one of them.”
“You took out two at the border.”
“That was luck. I totally caught the one by surprise, and I just barely got in the car before I—”
I screamed as something sharp and biting tore into my leg. My knees buckled, and I sank to the floor before Nathan’s arm could catch me. Glancing down, I saw blood on the thigh of my jeans. We both looked over and saw the old housekeeper standing with a gun.
“Mr. Arcangeli told me to make sure you didn’t leave.”
Mr. Arcangeli. Bryan. Laurel’s housekeeper was on Bryan’s payroll. That’s how he’d been tipped off I was coming. She still had the gun pointed at us, but her hands were shaking. Nathan leapt at her, and she wasn’t nearly fast enough to stop him. It was both sad and comical watching him wrestle the old woman, but the pain in my leg made it hard to feel too sorry for her. In the end, he was fairly gentle. Once he had the gun, he shoved her far away from us. Not surprisingly, she didn’t make a play to get the gun back. Instead, she turned and ran shrieking into the other room, calling for Bryan.
Holding the gun in one hand, Nathan slid his other arm around me and helped me stand. “I’ll be okay,” I told him. “I should heal in fifteen minutes or so. Half-hour, tops.”
“We don’t have that kind of time. Come on.”
“The car—”
“We can’t get it. Let’s just get out of here, and worry about transportation once we’re away from this hellhole.”
Half-dragging me, Nathan led us down a hall that went out to the kitchen. The kitchen connected to the living room—where the action appeared to be fading, much to my dismay. I felt pretty confident Bryan’s group had won, but there must have been enough loose ends for them to not notice us in the kitchen yet. A small door led out to the backyard.
We stumbled outside, moving at an agonizingly slow pace. On the far side of the lot, we could see a stand of trees that hadn’t been clear-cut yet. We aimed for those, hoping we could hide out.
“We can’t stay too long,” he warned. “The sun’ll be up soon.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Lucy . . . what are you going to do? About the prophecy?” Nathan’s voice was both curious and awed. “I still can’t believe it’s real.”
“Well, somebody does, or else all of that crap wouldn’t be going on at the house.” I sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t want any of it. I don’t want anyone to die. I’m scared of my eighteenth birthday. I would give anything to avoid that first kill . . . but at the cost of killing my own people? I don’t want either race to dominate the other. I don’t want more killing. I wish . . . I wish there could be a balance between us.”
We came to a stop at the edge of the trees. Nathan’s eyes were alive with excitement. We stood close, my breathing hard because of the extra exertion. “Maybe that’s what you’re supposed to do. Maybe you aren’t supposed to destroy either race. You could bring them—bring us—together.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“I do.”
Bryan materialized from the darkness. The housekeeper had apparently reported our escape.
He approached us slowly, smiling. It was still hard to believe this was the same Bryan I’d grown up around. I’d always trusted him, looked to him to defend us from other vampires. I’d watched him kill other vampires too—but I’d never expected to be one of them.
“I’m sorry, Lucy,” he said. “I really am. But this is for the greater good. You’ve always been too squeamish about humans—we can’t risk letting you have this power. I’m sorry.”
“Stop.” A voice cut through the night. Laurel approached from the side, trailed by one of her men. Both were armed, guns pointed at Bryan. She was gasping and bloody, and I couldn’t believe she was still upright after what I’d witnessed in the living room. I wondered how many of her cohorts were still alive. She and the man behind her might be it.
“Unbelievable,” said Bryan, echoing my thoughts.
He eyed my leg and turned toward the new threat, again neglecting us for a more urgent fight—a fight that I suspected was going to be very, very short from the looks of Laurel and her friend. Nathan touched my arm.
“Come on, while they’re distracted. . . .”
“We can’t outrun him. Even with a head start.”
Bryan flew toward Laurel’s counterpart. They fell to the ground, and though I couldn’t quite see what was happening, I heard a shriek and wet, ripping noises. I pictured that happening to me and Nathan, imagined my own life—the life I’d wanted to do so many things with—vanishing. Snuffed out like a candle. Adrenaline burned through me, powering through the bullet’s pain, and I took a deep breath. I turned toward Nathan.
“Did you mean it before?” I said quietly. The man had stopped screaming. “About doing something great? Doing something that will change the world?”
Those beautiful, beautiful eyes widened. He understood. He knew exactly what I meant, and that’s when I got it. That’s why I’d been drawn to him from the beginning—and vice versa. It’s why despite every reason he had to hate me, he still couldn’t leave me. The disc had said I’d know who I was meant to choose when I created my thirteen.
“You’ll be able to kill them,” I said. Laurel was screaming now. “But they can still kill you. And they’ll try. They’ll keep trying to kill both of us.”
There was no hesitation, no fear. I thought about the determination I’d witnessed in him all night. Nathan had the capacity to do so many things—he just wanted the chance to prove it. “Do it. Whatever you have to.”
I didn’t hesitate either. In a flash, I rested my fingers on his head and murmured the words that had burned themselves into my mind when I’d seen the disc.
“By moon and dark, by sun and light, I bind you to me, now and forever, life to life, death to death.” I felt something crackle through the air as I spoke.
My mouth moved to his neck, and I let my teeth sink into his skin. The scent that had haunted me all night, his skin and sweat, flooded my nose, just as his blood spilled into my mouth. It was salty and warm and the most wonderful thing I’d ever tasted. This was why vampires wanted humans. This was why we killed them.
But really, my bite was only a kiss. I pulled back, feeling that power continue to build between us. I had barely stepped away when Bryan came flying toward us, Laurel and the man dead. All vampires were dangerous, but Bryan was one of the most lethal. Few could stop him.
But Nathan did.
I’d never expected to see anyone match Bryan—certainly not a human. For Bryan, it must have been like hitting a brick wall. He staggered back, shocked. Nathan kept coming, beautiful and deadly. He punched Bryan in the face, causing the vampire to stumble again. Bryan came to his senses and pushed forward, taking the offensive.
For a moment, it was a deadlock. Neither could hit the other. Then, Nathan snaked in and grabbed Bryan by the shirt. Nathan slammed him into a tree and punched him—once, twice. Bryan’s head hit the tree each time, and when the third blow came, he collapsed. We stared at each other, stunned.
“We have to go,” I said. “The others will come. My leg’s just about healed.”
“Is he dead?”
“He will be soon, once the sun comes up. And so will I. We have to find a place to hide out for the night. Now.”
When Nathan didn’t move, I realized he was in shock, shock over what he had just done and what he could now do.
“Can you do it?” I asked, suddenly afraid for no reason I could explain. “Can you stay with me?”
I hate them. I really hate them. If I had the power to kill every vampire in the world and make things the way they used to be, I would.
Nathan had made his feelings about vampires clear all night. It was one thing to say, “Sure! Make me a vampire killer!” in the heat of battle—and another thing to accept what it meant afterward. And who it had bound you to. Slowly, he seemed to wake out of his daze. He turned toward me.
His hand reached out and rested on the side of my neck. His fingers were warm, yet sent chills through me. My whole body seemed to want his, yet at the same time, I realized what I’d done. I’d created a human who could kill vampires. A human who could kill me. And as his hand rested on the side of my neck, I realized that all powers being equal, he was built stronger than me. He could end this now, kill me, and go on a vampire killing spree. No discrimination. No thought for a better world.
Time stood still. Everything rested on him and his choice. The hand on my neck tightened ever so slightly, and then it slid up and cupped the side of my face. He kissed me, and as our lips touched, I felt all the power of that initial bite race back through us. I wrapped my arms around him, our bodies growing warm. I had never experienced anything like this. We broke apart, dizzy and restless.
“That was . . . wow,” he said.
I swallowed. “I didn’t know that was part of the prophecy.”
“That wasn’t prophecy,” he said, still trailing fingers along my face. “That was us.”
“I thought you hated vampires?”
“You don’t treat me like vampires do. You don’t even treat me like most humans do.”
It was probably the highest compliment he could give. My heart fluttered. I wanted him to kiss me again, but dawn was closing in. “What are you going to do?” I had to be sure I could trust him with this power. “Will you stay with me?”
“I’m bound to you, remember?”
“Are you—”
“Bound, Lucy,” he said firmly. “Life to life, death to death.”
I didn’t question him again. “Then let’s go. The sun’s going to come up.”
“And the moon’s going down,” he murmured. “How long until the next blue one? Until your birthday?”
“Eight months.”
“We’d better hurry then.”
He caught hold of my hand, and together, we headed off into the night, off to change the world.