| |
Now
Silver bolted upright in her sleeping bag, immediately gripping her weapon, which she had brought to her side before she went to sleep.
Instead of the prophetic dream she’d been hoping for, she had fallen into a good-old-fashioned nightmare which involved her running down a hill while evading some danger. She’d slipped and tumbled the rest of the way, startling herself awake when she hit the bottom.
Now, as she tried to catch her breath, her heart was still hammering in her chest from the lingering adrenaline. There was barely a sound around her—beyond the normal noises of nature in the middle of the day, that is.
Not that those scared her; wildlife was nothing compared to supernaturals.
But it was uncomfortably hot now, so she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, intending to move into the bunker again where it was nice and shaded. She’d probably been out for hours. She reached into the sleeping bag to confirm on the burner phone, only to realize that she’d only slept for about forty minutes.
Even more surprising? The pull to draw power from the device was barely there at all.
Her magic was definitely changing. But that mystery was pushed aside yet again when she saw that there weren’t any new messages.
Swiftly getting up, she sighed and folded the sleeping bag before carrying everything back to the bunker.
Just as she unlocked the trap door, a scream erupted from inside.
Silver dropped everything except her weapon and ran into the bunker, staff pointed forward. She followed the sound all the way to Shauna’s cell but then skidded to halt.
“What the hell did you do?”
In the back corner, Shauna was hunched over, gripping her stomach with one arm and holding on to the wall for support as she vomited her guts out. On the other side of the bars, Reese was groaning on the floor, blood dripping out of her arm.
Dropping her staff, Silver ran to the girl’s side and inspected her arm. She tried to keep her touch light, but Reese still winced.
“Ow, careful,” she groaned
The bleeding was coming from a wound on her arm, but there was something unusual about it. Instead of a typical vampire bite, blood seemingly flowed from two main puncture wounds that extended into little jagged lines on one side, like whatever caused them had penetrated the skin as vampire teeth normally would but was then wrenched out.
“Did you try to rip off a piece of her arm?” Silver yelled at the vampire, appalled.
“That was actually me,” Reese grimaced as she spoke. “I tried to pull away, but it made her teeth scrape my arm.”
“Reese, no offense, but that’s impossible. Once a vampire clamps down, you physically can’t move away; they’re too strong.”
“Yeah, well I don’t think she was all that eager to suck my blood once she got a taste.”
Confused, Silver turned to Shauna, who was just about done puking in the corner and was now on her side, moaning with her eyes closed. Whatever she had thrown up was crimson red, but it was darker and more viscous than the blood flowing out of Reese’s arm.
Shaking her head, Silver turned to Theresa accusingly. “Why are you even down here? I told you not to feed her.”
“I wasn’t going to! She tricked me to come closer, but then she jumped me and—”
She cut off with a hiss, grabbing her forearm to try and stop the bleeding, but it was dripping all over her clothes. Silver ran to the bathroom and brought back the first aid kit. She cleaned and dressed the wound as quickly and efficiently as she could.
But when she tried to lift the girl up, Reese protested. “Wait, what about Shauna?”
“Would you shut up and worry about yourself for once?” Silver didn’t give her a chance to reply before carrying her to the safety of her room. “Lock your door and stay here.”
“But can’t I just—”
Silver glared. “Now is not the time to test my patience.”
“Fine, sorry,” Theresa grumbled, her shoulders slumping.
When Silver left, she stopped just outside the bars of Shauna’s prison, hesitating. The vampire really seemed to be in pain, but Silver didn’t want to risk it, just in case it was an act.
Then Shauna let out a sudden, guttural cry, writhing as she clutched her stomach.
Fuck it. It was daylight outside. They weren’t going anywhere.
Blocking the way to Reese’s room, Silver opened the prison door and called on her power. As she raised her gaze, she was shocked to see Shauna’s red aura flickering in brightness.
She was dying.
In seconds, Silver was on the other side of the prison, using her powers to figure out what was killing Shauna by trying to heal her. It wasn’t supposed to happen so fast. It hadn’t been that long since she fed; she wasn’t supposed to be sick already.
Unless she’d been lying about her last feeding?
But something was melting the inner lining of the vampire’s stomach like acid, causing her to vomit not only its contents but also bits of her own guts. Whatever it was emitted an unusual kind of energy, like some parasitic presence making its way through Shauna’s system and slowly ripping her digestive tract to shreds.
Before she had time to think, Silver reached out with her magic and healed the damaged tissue. Yet, whatever was poisoning Shauna’s insides persisted, slipping out of Silver’s reach.
Gritting her teeth, she concentrated on pulling that poison back into Shauna’s stomach before expelling it out through her esophagus. Once the vampire rose up on all four and vomited the last of the poison out, Silver healed her insides once again.
This time, the magic stuck.
Letting out a breath of relief, Silver wiped a thin layer of sweat off her forehead. Shauna coughed a couple of times before she slumped against the wall in a seated position.
“Are you okay?” Silver checked.
“What the hell was that?” Shauna croaked.
“I’m not sure. Some sort of poison.”
“Thought you said that only happens with supernatural blood.”
“That’s how it usually goes, yeah.”
“Are you saying your girl isn’t human? ‘Cause she sure smelled like it.”
Silver frowned. Could it be...? But no, that wasn’t what blood poisoning looked like. Besides, Reese’s aura was normal, and evidently, neither Adam nor Shauna smelled something off about her scent.
“She’s human,” Silver insisted. “She’s just... I don’t know, there’s something else about her. I have no idea what it is, but I think that’s why Master wants her.”
Shauna winced and clutched her stomach again. “Should’ve listened to you.”
“Oh, you think? What were you trying to do, anyway?”
“Figured I’d build up my strength, just in case I need it.”
“You didn’t think I’d notice?”
“I was going to erase it from her mind and heal her after. I didn’t think she’d fucking poison me.”
Shauna’s aura wasn’t flickering anymore, but it was dim compared to an hour ago. Silver surmised that the poison must have weakened her. She wasn’t in immediate danger of dying, but she probably needed to feed earlier than Silver anticipated. Otherwise, she might starve.
Adam needed to come back quick before she lost another friend.
The thought took her by surprise, and she turned around to get cleaning supplies before Shauna could read it on her face.
Without meaning to, she had slipped into old habits, talking to Shauna with the kind of sarcastic contempt one reserved for friends, not potential enemies. And the feeling seemed to be mutual, especially as Shauna closed her eyes like she was about to take a nap, not caring that Silver was right there, wiping blood and puke off her face.
Maybe, just maybe, they could finally get somewhere.
Dropping her magic, she finished cleaning up and putting away her discarded sleeping bag and mattress, then locked the bunker door behind her. Back at the cell, she took a seat between Shauna and the door, sitting just out of reach, her staff at her side, just in case.
“Hey, Shaun?” she asked, allowing herself to lean into the familiarity of reuniting with an old friend.
Shauna lazily opened her eyes and gave her an inquisitive look.
“Do you want to come with us?”
The red-rimmed eyes blinked once, twice. “Where to?”
“My friends run a sanctuary for runaways like us. I’m taking Reese to stay with them for a while. You’d be safe there.”
Shauna smiled to one side. “Oh yeah? Are they vampire-friendly?”
Her attempt at humor was ruined by how weak and tired she sounded. Yet, the question made Silver’s heart feel just a bit lighter.
“Yeah, actually,” she said. “That’s how I met that vampire friend I told you about.”
Pause. “I don’t know, girlie. Suppose I do go. What then?”
“You’d be safe if you wanted to stay there. Or,” she hesitated, unsure how much to divulge.
Part of her was desperately clinging to the very real possibility that the friend she once knew was still in there. She didn’t want to think of her as a monster. And if Shauna had been turned as recently as she claimed, maybe there was hope.
“Or, you could come with me,” Silver continued.
“You’re not staying with your friends?”
That momentarily gave her pause, the idea too tempting to discard. “Even if I do, it won’t be for long. I’ll have to leave eventually.”
“Why?”
“I gotta take care of something.” She bit her lip, reminding herself that as much as she wished to have her friend back, she couldn’t reveal too much too soon. “I might tell you more if you help us.”
“I don’t know,” Shauna repeated. “Let’s see if this poison kills me, first.”
“You’ll survive. We just need to get you some blood.”
She chuckled humorlessly. “Pretty sure my insides are melted.”
“Yeah, but I stopped the poison from spreading. You’ll be okay again after you feed.”
Shauna frowned. “Stopped it?”
“I healed you.”
At that, the vampire fully opened her eyes. “You... you can do that?”
“Yeah, that’s one of my powers.”
Shauna sat up so abruptly, Silver instinctively pushed herself up into a defensive position, her hand flying to her weapon even as she called on her magic. But Shauna stayed in the corner, staring at her with a wild, desperate gleam in her eyes.
“If I tell you everything you want to know, will you heal me?”
“I already did,” Silver said, confused.
“Not the poison, this,” she snarled and gestured to her face, with her eyes ringed in red and her fangs on display.
Silver’s heart dropped, her shoulders sagging. Sometimes, she forgot that not everyone knew the full details of the seven vampiric discoveries. Adam somehow had that knowledge, though it was a mystery exactly how he’d acquired it.
The most important was the third discovery, which stipulated that killing a vamphyr would wipe out all vampires born from his magic and revert supernaturals that were turned by his bloodline back to their human form. It was the only known cure for supernaturalism—at least, for those that were once human.
But Shauna certainly wouldn’t know this—Silver herself hadn’t learned about most of the discoveries until after she’d escaped. Which explained why she expected there to be some sort of magic to reverse her vampirism.
Silver shook her head sadly. “I can’t do that.”
“I swear, I’ll answer all your questions without asking any in return.”
“Shaun, I can’t.”
“Why not? What, you’d do it for Adam but not me?”
“Believe me, I’d turn both of you back in a heartbeat if I could, but it doesn’t work like that. Hell, I’d turn myself back if I could, but there’s no such cure. Whoever told you otherwise was either not well informed or they were lying.”
Utterly crushed, Shauna’s eyes widened, filling with tears as tremors shook her body.
“Of course,” she whispered, like she was just now realizing something vital. “Oh God. Of course, he was lying... Shit.”
Silver’s heart ached at the devastation in her old friend’s voice, but she didn’t make a move, sensing that something big was about to happen. Whatever Shauna had been waiting for, whatever reason she’d had to hold her tongue and bide her time, had just been eviscerated.
“The bastard manipulated me,” she muttered tartly. “And I fell for it like an idiot.”
“Master Drake?” Silver guessed. It couldn’t be anyone else.
Shauna closed her eyes and nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. Her face twisted in agony, and it was like something broke inside of her, finally bringing the truth spilling out.
“I volunteered,” she admitted. “I went to him and offered myself up on a silver platter.”
“You... you asked him to turn you?”
“I offered to be a hybrid,” she elaborated, her eyes flashing. “He made me a vampire instead. And he waited till I was already turned to tell me. Said he needed me for something else, and that he had a better reward in mind; if I convinced you to go back to him, he’ll heal me. Turn me back and let me go.” She let out a humorless chuckle. “But of course he’d lie. I should’ve known. Everyone heard about what happened with Adam, so I thought... I stupidly thought...”
The words died in her throat, and she was crying too much to keep talking.
Suddenly, everything made sense. Shauna’s earlier questions, taunting Silver about Adam, even the timeline of her existence. She hadn’t been playing games or trying to get under her skin: she wanted to find out whether Adam had some sort of agreement with Master Drake that would gain him back his freedom or his humanity—or both.
Silver should have realized it as soon as Shauna said she’d been turned two days ago—right around the time Silver had expelled Master’s influence from Adam’s mind. And she would have noticed the connection if she hadn’t been so distracted by silly thoughts.
Her heart twisted in sympathy.
For one long moment, all she could do was stand there, scrambling to find something to say or do to comfort her friend. She never could figure out the whole “supportive friend” thing, even before. Shauna was always the one taking care of her.
After a beat, Silver threw caution to the wind and acted on impulse, dropping her defenses and coming closer to put her hand on Shauna’s shoulder.
“There is a way for you to be human again,” she said softly.
Shauna’s sobs quieted, and her eyes snapped up desperately. “How?”
“Killing the vamphyr whose magic created you.”
They held gazes for a second, but then Shauna looked away, her form sagging in defeat.
“I’m serious,” Silver insisted. “It’s the only cure.”
Shauna wordlessly crawled toward the mattress in the corner, laying on her side with her back to the door.
“That’s the thing I have to take care of,” Silver went on, “and why I’m not staying at my friends’ sanctuary for too long.”
“Can you turn the lights off on your way out?”
“Shauna!”
“Please, Silver. I want to be alone.”
After a moment, Silver sighed and reluctantly left Shauna alone in the prison, locking the bars behind her.
They might have gotten captured together, but Shauna had spent years at the estate without her. She knew firsthand what Master’s army was like, how ruthless he had become in the wake of Silver’s escape. Of course she would have given up a long time ago. Even if she trusted Silver’s intentions, she had every reason to believe that killing Master Drake was impossible.
For the first time in a long time, doubt poked at Silver’s confidence. What chance did she have if someone from the inside thought her mission was hopeless?
Adam believed in her.
He hadn’t laughed at the idea or tried to talk her out of it, and he’d once felt even more hopeless than Shauna. In fact, he had wanted to join Silver from the start, to help any way he could and get his own revenge in the process. Plus, he’d been at the estate longer than any of them, so he probably knew better.
There was nothing she could do at the moment, at least until he got back. So she tried to put the matter out of her mind as she went back into Reese’s room.
The girl was pacing when Silver walked in, and they both froze at the same time.
“How is she? Is she okay?” Reese asked in one breath.
But Silver didn’t answer or even acknowledge the question.
“Reese,” she said, in disbelief because the girl was pacing. “Your leg.”
Theresa wasn’t surprised by the comment. “I know, but that’s not all,” she replied, anticipation on her face as she held out her bandage-free arm.
The puncture wounds from Shauna’s bite were gone. There was no scar in their place. The only sign that they were ever there was a bit of dry blood.
