Blood Run (45 page)

“Of course,” Lea said. “I’ll come back with you guys.” But her eyes slid to Mark’s, and she gave him a small, sad smile. Promise caught the look.

“Maybe we should all go back to Wereburg. It might be for the best, anyway. United front and all,” Promise said and smiled briefly at Evans. Then her eyes found Peter’s. He nodded.

“Sounds good to me,” Mark said and crushed Lea to his side.

Mark and Lea went back to the safe house to collect Lady. Evans biked away toward Wereburg, and Promise and Peter stayed back to feed Chance. Peter had offered to give of himself, but Promise wanted her brother to have her blood. She didn’t tell Peter that she had reservations about Chance drinking Peter’s blood…she wasn’t even sure if he
would
drink it. After all, the other vampires seemed to steer clear of him.

Peter ran the blade across her forearm and then looked into her eyes, gauging the pain. She smiled at him. She felt like a mother as the blood began to flow…a nourisher, a feeder. For isn’t this what a mother would do, if her child needed it? Of course. Because she was also a protector.

Promise would be all those things for Chance now.

~ ~ ~

As they cantered away from Willow’s End–Lea holding Lady and sitting behind Promise on Ash; Mark on Snow behind Peter–Promise turned to watch her old house slip out of sight.
Tomorrow
, she thought to herself.
I’ll see you tomorrow
.

None of the four noticed Deidre as she shuffled further behind the trunk of a large, dead tree, watching them as they passed by. Her eyes were dark with disgust, and she scrutinized them warily them until they were gone. Then she turned to look at the house where they were keeping the monster.

Deidre was tired of Promise getting her way. Even when she hadn’t been around for weeks, she
still
got her way. The girl got away with murder. It was so unfair. Deidre just wanted things to be…to be right. To be like they used to be. Not just before the plague, but even before that: she wanted things to be like they were in high school. When
she’d
been the one who always got her way.

She told herself that turning Chance loose was something she was doing for the good of the town. She didn’t acknowledge that she was also motivated by jealousy, by an urge to hurt Promise for being all the things that she, Deidre, would never be: selfless, brave, strong.

She checked once more to make sure they were gone, and then she moved toward Promise’s old house. She dragged a bag of clanking tools behind her. She would wait until dusk and then let that thing out. Then she would spend the night here. It would be dangerous, but when they came back tomorrow, and then everyone found out what she’d done…
for them
…she would be a hero.

Then everything would go her way once again.

~ ~ ~

“It’s intriguing, and I’d be willing to go and see him–I wouldn’t be much of a researcher if I wasn’t–but I have reservations about putting any of the lab resources out there,” Mr. West said. He spread his hands on the oak teacher’s desk before him, palms down, as if to hold it in place. “It’s doesn’t sound safe, to me.”

“I think you might change your mind once you see it,” Evans said. “The bottom line is that there’s no safe way to transport the kid here, and even if there were a way, it’s not a good idea. It puts this whole place at risk.”

“If we move the lab out there, though,” Mr. West said. “You put the lab people at risk, and if there is a fatal incident–like the one at the base–then there’s no chance of fine-tuning Edwards’ cure. Everyone loses.”

Evans and Miller were sitting across from the desk in school chairs. When Evans had returned from Willow’s End ahead of the rest, he’d sought out Miller first and bounced his idea off her. Then he’d enlisted her help in talking to Mr. West.

“Yeah, Evans and I talked about that,” she said. “So here’s the idea: we take over the house next door, too. Put the actual lab there. We can guard anyone going into the house with the kid, Chance, in it,” Miller said. She knew getting Chance’s name in there, humanizing him, was a psychological trick, and she felt bad using it. But it might help sway Mr. West to their side.

He looked at her mildly. “I know him, Miller. He was one of the kids who I took in, took responsibility for. Believe me, I already think of him as ‘human’. But I am responsible for
everyone
now.”

Miller blinked and flushed slightly. She scolded herself for underestimating Mr. West’s intelligence…or overestimating her own.

“You have to consider your other lab rat, too, though,” Evans said. “And as long as
she
is out there,
he
will be out there.” He took a breath to explain himself further, but Miller stopped him with a hand on his arm. She wanted Evans to realize that West could out-think them.

“Lab rat,” Mr. West shook his head. He almost smiled. “You’re right about Peter and Promise, though. And if Chance has come as far along as you say, then it might be beneficial to have her with him. Certainly it will keep him calmer.” He pushed the chair back and stood. “But no more contact. That’s going to have to be a hard and fast rule.”

Evans face began to light up, and Miller could see he was thinking ‘done deal’. She wasn’t so sure, herself.

“That is, if we decide to do this at all,” Mr. West said, and Evans’ face tightened in frustration. West walked to the door. “We’ll catch up tomorrow first thing. For now I have to go make sure everything is okay. I’ve got lock up in less than an hour.”

Miller was surprised. “
You
do that? With everything else you have going on here?”

Mr. West turned back with a sad smile. “I’m a fast learner, Miller. I never make the same mistake twice.”

“That guy is damned smart,” Evans said after West had gone. His voice was slightly awed. “He’s even smarter than Lu, and Lu is the smartest guy I know.”

“Speaking of, I think Lu is going to stay here,” Miller said. “Permanently.”

“He’s voluntary?” Evans asked, without surprise. Miller knew that was the first question anyone in the National Guard would ask in this day and age.

“Yep,” she said “and he’s free and clear.” Even for volunteers there was a minimum requirement, but once that was met, they could leave at any time. Not that the minimums and whether one was voluntary or not even mattered very much. No one was able to consistently keep track of the Guard. The world was too different now. Too disjointed.

“He’s been working with West all day. I think he’s really going to be able to help them out with that lab stuff.”

Evans considered and then crossed his arms over his chest. It might be nice to settle in one spot. Maybe he should think about it, too. Go and check on what was left of his family and then go from there. Figure out something new.

It didn’t seem as though Promise would need him any more after tomorrow, anyway.

Promise looked around the classroom she and Lea had shared before she’d left for the base in New Jersey. It hadn’t been long ago, but the room looked deserted, as though no one had occupied it for years. Lea’s chalk drawings were faded and scratched and their cast off bedding and extra clothes were huddled in forlorn bundles around the perimeter. Then Ash whinnied behind her and began to push her into the room with his nose. She laughed and went.

Lady jumped from Lea’s arms and tore across the room to throw herself down on the horse blankets in the corner. She rolled on them, her stick-like legs kicking joyously as she snorted her pleasure. Ash watched her with patient interest.

Promise laughed. “Someone sure is happy to be back,” she said.

“She is, yeah. I told you she was pining for Ash, but maybe she was really just pining for his stinky blankets,” Lea said from beside her. “Hey, do you think you might keep her in here tonight? So she can get a big dose of her favorite horse?”

“Well, of course she’ll stay in here,” Promise said, her voice puzzled. “Where else would she stay?” She looked at her friend’s flushed face and shy smile. “Oh. You mean because
you’re
not staying in here.”

Lea’s flush deepened. It looked good on her, Promise thought. Lea’s fair skin warmed pink and pretty across her cheeks. She said, “Do you…I mean, do you mind if I…?”

Promise gave her a quick, impulsive hug. “No, course not. We’ll be together all day tomorrow. We’ll talk more then.”

Lea pulled back, her face drawn in concern. “What about Peter? Will he be in here with you, or…?”

Promise shook her head sadly. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what we…what we’re supposed to be. To each other, I mean. Before we got to the base, it was a little confusing, but it was okay, you know? There were so many other things going on. But something happened, the night it was overrun, Peter, he changed. Now, it feels–everything feels wrong between us. Distant. Not like before.”

“How do you mean?”

“We were making some kind of progress, before, I guess. I mean, for all the weirdness in the world now, I was starting to feel all the things you’re
supposed
to feel in a new relationship. All the things I never felt before. Excited and nervous, unsure. Expectant.” Promise shook her head and dropped her eyes. “But now it’s soured or…” She shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it. But the way I felt about him, I think it’s gone.”

“Do you still like him, though? Just as a person?”

Promise considered the question and sighed. “I guess so, but…”

“It’s hard to separate the two things?” Lea guessed, and Promise nodded again.

“I just feel like–” Promise started, but the sound of Snow’s hooves in the corridor outside the door silenced her. Both girls turned to watch as Peter walked in leading Snow.

“Hi, Peter,” Lea said with a smile. “Bye, Peter. Bye, Promise,” she said and squeezed Promise’s hand. “We’ll talk tomorrow. I have some ideas about…” She glanced at Peter, who had busied himself settling Snow in next to Ash. “…about what we were discussing.” She leaned to whisper in Promise’s ear. “Everything will be fine. I just feel it.”

Once Lea left, Promise felt awkward at the distance and silence between her and Peter. She glanced at him where he kneeled to pet Lady. She read tension in the set of his shoulders and realized that he, too, must feel awkward. It made her both sad and frustrated. She wanted to put it right, smooth things out between them.

“Peter, listen, could we–” she started to say, but Peter spoke at the same time, “I’m going to bunk with Evans and them tonight.”

Feeling hurt, but also relieved, Promise didn’t know what to say next. Here, again, was the confusion she’d been telling Lea about. The confusion of feeling two ways at once. Was she hurt or relieved? Could she really be both at once? It made no sense.

He stood and faced her. “What were you saying? I didn’t mean to cut you off.”

She shook her head and smiled briefly, crossing her arms over her chest–over her heart. She shrugged. “Nothing. Tell Ev and them I said ‘goodnight’, okay?” She glanced at her watch. “You better hurry. Lockup in fifteen minutes.”

He hesitated as though he wanted to say something more, but Promise turned her back to him and looked out the top of the otherwise boarded over windows. “The sun is almost gone,” she said, and her voice was flat.

He looked past her and up through the window. The sky was turning a deep purplish blue along the western horizon, and the moon, bloated and orange, was leering over the trees. It would lose blood as it rose until it sailed across the sky like a pale, dead ghost, laying down its cooling, silver light. Peter swallowed and tore his eyes away, and his gaze landed on Promise’s profile. Her face was lined in a pearlescent glow, making her look warm and angelic. He allowed the now familiar push and pull of his feelings to wash over him. He wanted her, but was no longer sure in which way. And it didn’t feel healthy, the wanting. The need.

He was plunged into remorse. He hadn’t done right by this girl.

“Goodnight,” he murmured and turned abruptly out of the room, nearly stumbling.

Promise never took her eyes from the window. She couldn’t answer him, the hurt and confusion were too great. It had been a cheat, a lie…the things she’d been told about love. None of those things had come true. But she still had Chance, and that was enough.

She heard the heavy door close behind her. She would lock it in a minute.

But for now, she would watch the sun out of sight.

Chapter 7

“I’m glad she’s
dead
! I’m glad, I’m
glaaad
!” Promise’s scream rang against the front of her old house. Grief and rage and stark disbelief distorted her features as Peter and Mark tried to hold onto her where she stood next to the porch. She kicked and fought, whipping her head from side to side, her teeth gritted.

Lea stood nearby, hands fisted at her mouth. Tears of shock rolled steadily from her enormous eyes.

Promise screamed again. “I’m glaaaad! I’m glad she’s dead! Chance! Chaaaaance!” Her cries cut through the thin morning air. “Chaaaaaance! Chaaaaaaaaance!” Her voice broke and became an inconsolable wail, and her face reddened as the veins in her neck stood out blue against her skin. She had no breath, but still she screamed and struggled. Her nose began to bleed, and she coughed and choked over the blood that ran down her throat. She fought harder against Peter and Mark, twisting in their hands. “Let me go! I have to find him! Let me
go
! Chaaaaance! Chaaance!”

Lea dropped to her knees and huddled over herself, sobbing. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, oh, Promise, please, I’m sorry…”

Mr. West slammed through the front door. He had a needle in his hand. “Promise, listen to me! I’m going to give you a shot to calm you down! Can you hear me? Promise? Promise?”

She twisted and wailed. She kicked out at Mr. West. Her eyes were swollen shut with tears, and the blood from her nose ran over her lip and down into her grimacing mouth, coating her teeth in gore. She looked wild, feral in her misery. “Chaaance! Chaaaaaaance!” Her voice was rough, her throat raw and torn. She heaved against Peter’s arms, nearly throwing Mark to the ground. “Let me
go
! I have to find him! Chaaaance!”