Authors: Erin Hayes
Zhi gestures to my left arm. "You were bitten by a vampire a few months ago, correct?"
I nod, paling. "Christmas Eve."
I feel oddly exposed that he knows about me. I’ve never seen him before in my life, never heard of him, and he knows more than some of my closest allies.
So why am I not surprised that they know? If I have a vampire like Jude following my every move, despite how discreet I am, then it shouldn't surprise me that a fellow vampire hunter knows that I'm cursed.
"Since your sister Meghan died that night too, we know that you're the second-to-last Harker and desperate for some help."
Dammit.
That is one of the aspects of it that I have kept secret. I bristle, but I'm not going to mention Amelia. I'm keeping her out of this. He may know, but I’m not discussing her here in front of him.
"We've hit some unfortunate times," I say icily.
"Even more unfortunate now that you're dying," Zhi adds.
I bite my cheek hard enough for it to bleed.
Li says something in Mandarin to Zhi and they start speaking rapidly. Maria either knows the language, or she pretends she does, because she’s watching them with amusement.
"Edie," Jude says under his breath, leaning into me. "We can go if you want to. We don't need to deal with assholes."
I shake my head. "I'm fine," I say. I keep saying it, and I don't think it's really working. My scar twinges in what seems like agreement.
Jude's eyes meet mine, and I find compassion and something else in them. I want to get lost in them, to forget everything that’s happened.
I force my gaze away. "You said you could help us?" I ask, my voice shrill.
The two hunters stop their arguing and turn their attentions towards me.
“Yes,” Zhi says. “Of course.”
"
How?
And why is everyone talking about the Progenitor?"
"Heh." It's Li who answers and boy does she sound amused. "Suspend your disbelief for this one, honey, but we have information on him. And
why
Anthony infected you instead of killing you when he could."
“Because of a legend?”
Zhi cocks his head curiously at me. "What makes you say that?"
I comb a hand through my hair and sigh, trying to process all of it. "Because in over five hundred years of my family's history, we've never come across more than circumstantial evidence of him."
Li chuckles mirthlessly. "You don't survive a million years by being easy to find."
"There would have been something though," Carl says, taking my side. "We would have discovered something on the V-boards that points to his existence."
"And you blast your whereabouts online," Maria counters. "What's your point?"
"There would have been
something
," I insist, feeling the anger coloring my cheeks. "He would have shown up somewhere along the way."
"What if I told you,” Zhi says, “that we have evidence he’s alive?"
"Evidence?"
“Maria,” Zhi commands.
The vampire smirks and slinks over to the command console on the far wall, typing a string of characters into it. The six computer screens flicker to life, already on what looks to be stills from security footage. My eyes follow each of the screens, seeing what looks to be a limousine driving around a ritzy, high-end area in a financial district of a big city at night, although which city, I can't tell. The last photo has an elderly man surrounded by bodyguards entering the vehicle. Like a bad thriller movie, his face is obscured, so I can't see any features except for the fact that he looks to be in his sixties. I can’t tell if the old man is human or not, the quality of the images is too bad to really tell, though the bodyguards are in focus enough for me to see that the bodyguards are vampires.
I find that I’m walking towards it, mesmerized by the images.
"You think that's the Progenitor?" I ask. "An old man surrounded by a lot of other bitey vamps?"
"Assuredly so," Zhi answers.
"He emerged from nowhere six months ago," Li added. She's watching me carefully for my reaction.
"That's right before Edie was bitten," Carl says.
"Exactly," Zhi agrees.
"Correlation does not imply causation," Jude replies.
I shake my head. "This isn't evidence. I need more than that to believe that he's real. And what does this have to with my bite, other than coincidence?"
"Here's the kicker," Zhi says smugly. "And trust me, we have full evidence to support this." He leans in, the glee apparent on his face. "Because the Progenitor is the father of all vampires, if you kill him, then his line ends, and the virus is lifted from his descendants."
It feels like my lungs have collapsed. There's been plenty of speculation throughout history about the Progenitor and his role as the father of all vampires, but I've never heard anything like this. It was always thought that the Progenitor, if he exists, is merely a breeding machine that passes his curse to his children. Much like a queen bee.
"What?" I ask. "Does that include—"
"That means, honey,” Li chimes in, “if you kill the Progenitor before you die from your scar, then you're cured. You'd be free to live your life however you like."
Her words sound like they're far away. My heart pounds in my ears while my mind embraces those words. I wonder if, for the first time in my life, I could have a chance at something that vaguely resembles normal.
Free to live my life…
Carl looks to me, his face as shocked as I feel. "Edie," he says, his voice hoarse, "that means…"
The implications of this revelation impact not only me, but others as well. I think about my cousin and the vampire hunters I know. I think of Amelia and Graeme, who won't have to worry about things that go bump in the night. All of the people who will never have to feel the prick of fangs in their throats.
I think of Jude. How he would have a normal life. How I could see if there’s anything between us. If there’s something there that we could build.
"
Edie.
" Jude says my name in such a soft voice, I'm not even sure I really heard it. Still, it makes me shiver.
I wet my dry lips, which is futile since the rest of my mouth is bone dry. "How?" I ask. "How do you know that would happen?"
Maria laughs, and I can almost hear,
“Aww, poor little Harker”
in her voice.
“Because of the second bit of evidence we have." Zhi heads towards the closed door on the far side of the room. Maria slinks along with him. "Be ready to have your mind blown."
I think he's opening the door to another armory or more archives or something innocuous, so I follow him. Yet when I stand in the doorway, I recoil, flight taking hold of me. Zhi grips my upper arm, forcing me to stay there.
"What the shit?" are the words that automatically pop out of my mouth.
Edie
The room before us is something that resembles interrogation rooms from TV shows. Four concrete walls, a lone lightbulb overhead, a drain in the middle of the bare concrete floor with stains of dark red surrounding it, and a chair bolted to it.
In the chair is a vampire. I am so caught off guard, I’m not prepared to see her there. My vampy sense is all sorts of discombobulated down in this bunker.
She looks to only be a little bit older than me, although that's not saying much with immortal beings. She is thin with papery white skin and hollow, gaunt eyes. Her blonde hair is matted, hanging in clumps around her haggard face. She was beautiful once; not now. She's bound to the hair by her hands, torso, and feet, the silver handcuffs rubbing raw blisters across her bare wrists and ankles.
She tilts her head to look at me, a smile coming to her full, red lips. "Harker," she sneers. "How…unexpected. You smell…
tainted.
Which means it’s working."
She's nowhere near as surprised as I am. Her words make me shiver, and I instinctively cover up my wrist.
"Whoa, shit, it's another vampire!" Carl breathes from behind me.
“Yeah,” I say, pointedly looking at Maria. “One that is tied up.”
Maria shrugs. “I only discriminate against the bad guys,” she says. She nods to the vampire in the chair. “She’s one of the bad guys.”
I don't know what game they’re playing, but I'm not liking it. Never have the Harkers imprisoned a vampire like this. True, we are exterminators of the bad ones, but that doesn't mean we keep them and torture them like this.
"What the fuck is this?" I hiss to Zhi.
"Your information," he answers. He gestures to the vampire in the room. "I know you’re concerned about your welfare, but wait until you hear what she has to say. Edie, Carl, Jude, meet…" he taps his chin, "…your name is Victoria, right?"
She laughs shrilly.
"You have a prisoner here?” Carl demands. “Why? What was her crime?"
“Being one of the bad guys,” Maria intones next to me.
"How long has she been down here?" I demand.
"About a week," Zhi says.
Victoria's eyes widen to two pools of amethyst. At first, I think her eyes are on me. Then she says one word and her eyes focus on someone behind me. "
You
."
Jude looks paler than normal, his angry piercings standing out like a red constellation of stars on his face. His eyes are on the vampire, not recognizing her.
However, she recognizes him. I swallow nervously. She
knows
him. From before his amnesia.
"I thought you were dead," she whispers.
Jude shakes his head. "I don't know you," he says.
She blinks, at first in disbelief, then she gets a really good look at him. "You're…
different…
" she concedes. “Like you’re less than you were.” She smirks. "I guess it's for the best. Imagine if Anthony knew you were alive. He'd be so happy."
Now I feel like I've been sucker punched.
"Anthony?" Carl echoes. "You know Anthony, Jude?"
Victoria throws back her head and laughs. "Jude?" she manages between fits of giggles. "You call yourself
Jude
? Oh that's priceless. 'Hey Jude'," she singsongs.
I can almost feel the confusion and anger emanating off Jude while he stands there, his jaw muscles clenching.
"I thought you didn't know Anthony," I said under my breath. I don't know what I feel, but the betrayal of everything I thought I knew about him is threatening to swallow me whole. Maybe that’s why he’s had so much trouble finding good information about Anthony. He’s hiding him.
"I don't," he insists.
"He does," Victoria says. "Those two were tight. Like father and son." She cackles at that.
Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. Jude opens his mouth, but I shake my hands at him. "Don't," I warn. "Just don't."
Wisely, he heeds my warning.
"I'm fucking done with this," I say, making to leave. I need air and I need to get out of this hell hole.
"How's the scar, Harker?" Victoria calls out behind me, stopping me dead in my tracks. “Spreading? Killing you? Are you getting stronger yet?”
Despite all common sense telling me to leave, I turn to look back at her.
"How do you know about that?"
She smiles sadistically. "I was there that day. I know Anthony gave it to you."
My hands clench at my side. So she isn't an innocent vampire. Everything is getting so blurry to me at the moment, I can't see straight. "Did you kill Meghan?" I ask.
"The former Harker?" Victoria asks. She licks her lips. “She tasted delicious.”
The murderous rampage inside me unleashes like a volcano erupting. Though every fiber of my being wants to rush forward and stake her, I hold myself back. It’s incredibly difficult.
"Why? What did she ever do to you?"
"Hope." She drops her head in what looks like a gesture of supplication, although I know better. "For the future. Anthony is going to overthrow the Progenitor to become the Progenitor himself. And to get rid of trash like you."
Carl, apparently in a better headspace than me, pounces on that bit of information. "The Progenitor is real?"
Victoria nods.
"How does that work?" Carl continues. "Becoming the Progenitor?"
"You have to be a special, powerful vampire," she says. Her voice is silken, rubbing against me. I push against it. She's trying to glamour me and I don't appreciate it for a moment. "You have to be one of his direct offspring," she snickers, thrusting her chin towards me. "Anthony has the privilege of being one of his sons."
"Why would Anthony try to overthrow the Progenitor?" I ask.
"Because Anthony wants absolute power. He wants to control all of the vampires that are out there. He wants to get rid of
your
kind." Now her eyes sweep the doorway, looking at each vampire hunter. "He's going to take control of this world. To do that, he needs your blood."
"
My
blood?"
"Yes," Victoria breathes. "Your wondrous Harker blood mixed with vampire blood. An elixir."
"For what?"
To my surprise, she leans forward, as much as she can in her chains. It must hurt because the silver pushes against her body, and the shackles at her hands and feet strain. "Your blood is the rarest of bloods. You are of the Progenitor’s ilk as well, a powerful supplement. It will help Anthony overpower the Progenitor and squash him like the defenseless million-year-old cockroach that he is." She cocks her head at me. "Anthony's been letting you cook for five months before being harvested." She sniffs the air and her eyes widen. "Not long now until you're
just right
."
I recoil from her, which makes her laugh.
"The Harker isn't so tough, huh? Imagine that. The terror of our nightmares is afraid of us. Don't you think that's funny,
Jude
?" she asks mockingly.
He doesn't respond. I wish he would. I wish he would say something. He doesn't, and I feel nauseous that he's not doing anything to prove that he's something else. Someone else.
"Anthony has promised riches beyond your wildest dreams to whosoever brings you to him,” Victoria crows. “And I do mean anyone." She licks her lips. "Vampire. Human." Her eyes flick to Zhi and Li. "Vampire hunter. If I were you, Harker, I would be careful about who I place my trust in."
My retort dies in my throat as Meghan’s words come back to me.
Don’t trust them.
"What does he offer them?" I ask instead.
Victoria shrugs. "Doesn't matter. When Anthony is the father of all vampires, you can be assured that he'll have the power to grant any dream to the one who delivers him
his
dreams. Let this be your warning: watch your back. If I was free, you can be sure that I'd be trying to get close to you. To bring you to him when you're ready."
Her eyes look at a spot behind me. I know she's watching Jude, making a point with her gaze.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I whisper.
She chuckles. "Because I love seeing you suffer. To get a taste of hope that something could change your fate. It'll be taken away from you and I’ll get to watch."
"I'm done," I tell Zhi. "I'm fucking done with this.”
I turn to leave, and her laugh grows louder, more demented.
"When the last of your lifeblood is drained away from you, you'll remember my words,” she screeches. “The ones who you believe to be good are going to betray you."
I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting to block her out. The door slams behind us.
"Answers, yes?" Li asks, speaking for the first time in a long while. I’d almost forgotten she’s here.
"And far more questions," I say. "Carl, what do you think of that?"
"It's all batshit crazy," he replies. "Everything. From not believing that the Progenitor exists to finding out that he possibly does and that vampires are working to get rid of him…"
"Harker," Jude says, reaching out to me. "You believe me, right? That I have no idea who she is? That I'm not working against you?
Please,
Edie, I—"
I twist out of his grasp. "Don't."
His look of hurt only serves to piss me off more, because I feel bad and hurt and betrayed by him. I want to believe that he’s one of the good guys.
I have no idea what to believe anymore, and he's asking me to place my trust in
him
?
"Edie," he begins again, using my first name like we're best friends.
"
Don't fucking touch me!
" I snarl, hurt and pain mingling with my tears.
He backs off, although he doesn’t take his eyes off me. There’s apology in them as well as confusion. I need to get out of here, otherwise I’m going to suffocate.
"What are you doing?" Carl asks, his voice alarmed.
It draws my attention over to Zhi, who has walked over to the wall of weapons. He plucks a Beretta from the rack and checks the magazine. "Disposing of her," he explains matter-of-factly. He screws a silencer onto the muzzle, like this is an everyday occurrence.
"You can't do that," Carl protests.
“He can,” Maria says. “Victoria has killed over thirty humans in the last year alone. She’s dangerous. You wanted information, Harker, there’s your information. That’s what you get when you dig into our fucked up world.”
Carl opens his mouth to protest, but I hold up a hand and shake my head. He shoots me an angry look.
Zhi snickers at our exchange and heads into the room, unlocking it and opening it. I peer into the doorway, seeing Victoria's face as he comes in.
I need to close my eyes.
I keep them open.
Victoria appears to have been expecting this outcome, and yet, she's not thrashing out or scared by this turn of events. In fact, she seems completely at peace. Zhi raises the Beretta to her forehead, and her violet eyes watch me. As if in slow motion, a smile comes to her lips. She knows how shaken I feel at the moment.
Zhi fires one shot and the back of her skull flies off with the exit wound. Her violet eyes go lifeless and she slumps in her seat.
I feel like I'm going to be sick. Not from the gore—I've seen plenty of that in my time. This is nothing new to me. Still, it feels weird. Wrong. And I feel dirty.
Carl has a hand over his mouth, looking like he's going to be sick himself. I pray that he can keep his composure long enough to get away from this psycho.
Zhi steps back, nodding towards the sole remaining vampire. "I could take care of him right now for you."
"No," I say, not raising my eyes to look at Jude. I don’t think I can handle it at the moment. "Leave him."
Zhi raises an eyebrow at my response. Jude doesn't move a muscle.
I step past the both of them. "Look, Zhi, Maria, thanks for the information…I have to think this through."
"Yes," Zhi says. "I bet you do." From out of nowhere, he produces a business card and presses it into my hand. "Call me when you're ready to tackle the Progenitor."
I glance back at Jude before nodding. I see the look of hurt pass his face, but I ignore it and tuck the card into my hoodie. "Yeah," I say. "Sure."
I feel so tired all of a sudden.
"Let's go," I tell Carl and, I guess, Jude. "I want to go home."
“Remember that you can fight this,” Maria tells me with surprising kindness.
Zhi's eyes glitter as he walks us to the door. "I agree with Victoria that you can be betrayed at any point in time, Harker." He jabs his thumb at Jude.
"You could betray me too," I shoot back. "I have no idea if I can trust you."
He shrugs. "Possibly. But we won’t.”
Without another word, I head up the dark stars back up to the drycleaners. I hear the dual pair of footsteps behind me, Carl's erratic two-at-a-time climb up the steps and Jude's more deliberate ones.