Authors: Helen Keeble
“Neither of us has been anywhere near here,” said Ebon through teeth gritted in pain. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Ending your kind is never a mistake.” Van gestured with the crossbow tip, motioning me to step away from the bed. “Every last one of you should be hunted down like the animals you are. I protect the innocent with my blood.”
I raised my eyebrows. “By … gagging her and tying her to the bed?”
Van at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.
“I had planned to sit in the corner and watch over her as she slept,” he muttered. “But she woke up.”
“Listen, Van, there’s only one person in this room who might know what’s going on.” I turned my head to face the girl, who was eyeing everyone else as if trying to work out who I meant. “Hi. I’m Jane—JaneX, you know, from Fang-Girls? You’re Superluminal, right?”
The girl paused for a moment, as if working through whether it would be better to confirm or deny her identity to the crazed intruders. She nodded reluctantly.
“And you really aren’t a vampire?” The only response I got was the most epic glare I’d ever received, even including Van’s. “Sorry, I guess that was kind of obvious. What’s your real—wait, no real point in asking you. Van, what’s her name?”
Van shrugged in total disinterest, as though this was entirely irrelevant.
“What were you, raised by
wolves
?” Leaning over, I unhooked the medical charts from the end of the bed and glanced at the first page. “Hi,” I said to the girl. “So, you’re … Sarah? Sarah Chana?” I flipped to the next page. “And you’re in here because—” I stopped dead, staring down at the paper. Amid the medical jargon and mysterious numbers, two words screamed out:
HEART TRANSPLANT
“Oh my God,” I whispered. I could feel the fluttering in her chest as if it was my own heart, because—“You had a heart transplant.
My
heart.”
“What?” Ebon and Van spoke simultaneously.
“I was in a coma.” I could see the pieces falling into place in my head. “My dad
said
I was in a coma! When they finally had to give up, they must have given permission for my organs to be used, but—when I became a vampire I must have healed, and, and—
Ebon
!” I half shrieked in triumph, nearly scaring Van into turning us both into kebabs. “That’s it! It’s not Lilith, it’s
Sarah’s
blood, flowing directly through my heart! That’s why I haven’t been hungry, and why I’ve been feeling her through the Bloodline!”
You are a crazy, crazy person,
Sarah’s eyes plainly stated. Ebon looked as though he might share this opinion, but Van had gone pale. “That’s why I couldn’t stake you?” he asked, horrified.
“Right! You couldn’t destroy my heart, because it’s not in my chest, it’s over
there
!” I stabbed a finger triumphantly at Sarah. “It all makes sense! Except … except for the part where my heart’s over there instead of in my chest.”
“Abomination,” Van spat, leveling the crossbow at me with renewed enthusiasm. “To do your foul experiments on—”
“This wasn’t my idea!” I protested. Van twitched, looking ready to snap, and I quickly shoved my hands in the air. “Sarah? I’m guessing you don’t have any idea what’s going on here either. Well, the guy with the crossbows there is a complete psychopath, as I guess you’ve gathered. If I let you go, can I trust you not to make any sound?” I shifted my weight to move toward her, slowly so as not to spook Van. “Otherwise, Ebon—that’s my friend on the floor there—anyway, if you make any noise, Van will shoot him. That would be bad. Ebon’s on your side, he’s a cool guy, you can trust him. Do you understand?”
She nodded again. I hoped she meant it.
“Okay then,” I said. I was within arm’s reach. “Van, don’t freak,” I warned, and leaned over the bed.
Predictably, he freaked. “I said
stay away
,” he snarled, turning his body toward me—which meant that the second crossbow drifted, just for an instant, away from Ebon’s heart.
A lot of things happened, all at once:
Ebon ripped himself off the spikes, shivering into mist the second he was clear.
Van squeezed both triggers.
I flung myself to one side with full vampiric speed.
And Sarah convulsed.
I didn’t have even an instant to spare to see if she’d been hit by the stray bolt. I hurled myself at Van, knocking his crossbow out of his hand. With the same eerie reflexes he’d demonstrated in our earlier fight, he dropped out of the way of my follow-up blow, whirling to strike at me with the second, now empty crossbow. I ducked, he missed, and that was all the chance he got, as a fully resolidified Ebon dropped onto his head.
“Don’t kill him!” I dove onto the struggling pair, pinning Van down with a foot on his neck while hauling back on the collar of Ebon’s coat. Ebon’s arms hung useless at his sides, but his jagged teeth were bared and there was blood smeared all over his mouth. Van’s shirt was torn, a savage bite mark on his collarbone showing where Ebon had missed his neck. The vampire snarled, struggling in my grip; I felt Van twist under my foot, and pressed down heavily, cutting off his air until he went limp.
That was when the door slammed open, and a dazzlingly bright light pinned us all in place.
“FREEZE!”
I automatically put my hands in the air, cringing. This meant that I let go of Ebon, who, demonstrating remarkable persistence, instantly darted his head down to strike at Van again. Fortunately for Van and unfortunately for me, my foot got in the way.
“Ow!” The pain lasted only a second. Hands grabbed at me, hauling me away. Disoriented in the harsh light, I couldn’t even tell which way was up; I was manhandled like a rag doll until my arms were twisted up behind my back and my face was pressed against a flat surface. Someone slammed a knee down onto my shoulder blades. Through the ringing in my ears, I heard the
crack
of a fist against a face, and an answering feral snarl.
“Ebon, no!” I managed to yell, before the security man on my back squashed me too flat for speech. I drew my legs up underneath me and heaved, twisting with all the strength I could muster. He was only a normal person; compared to Van’s dhampiric strength, he was a clinging toddler. I shook him off easily, surging to my feet. The room seemed full of people, colors swimming together in my blurred sight. Even my Bloodline sense felt confused, fuzzy.
“Ebon!”
I caught a flash of white-blond hair, and an instant later Ebon’s shoulder pressed against mine. “Thee
a’right?” he said, the country accent incongruous with the blood streaked over his chin and the desire for murder in his eyes.
“Jesus Christ,” someone said, his voice shaking. Squinting against the light, I saw a hospital orderly staring at us in terror, holding a radio. “What
are
you?”
“No!” I grabbed at Ebon’s sleeve as he lunged forward. “They’re ordinary people; we can’t hurt them!”
“Emergency, intruders in room 117, call the police,” the orderly gabbled into his radio. Another white-uniformed figure lay sprawled at his feet. A nurse was struggling with Sarah’s limp body, trying to untie the bonds holding her to the bed. There was too much going on. The Bloodline filled my head with a roar like the ocean. I was drowning underneath it, the tides of my blood rising to sweep me away.
“Surrender or I will use force!” The security guard I’d knocked off my back was up again, all six feet six of him. His face was contorted with fear, but he still squared into a fighting stance. Next to me, I felt Ebon’s muscles tense. “Hands up! Against the wall!”
Running feet echoed down the corridor. I felt a strange surge of recognition, as if whoever was coming was someone familiar, someone connected to me.
A plain, dumpy, middle-aged woman in a pristine white nurse’s uniform appeared in the doorway. She took in the whole scene at a glance. Not a trace of surprise showed in her face.
“Oh my,” the woman said in a rich, rueful voice that shot fire through my veins. “Now this is certainly going to tax my powers of improvisation.”
“M-matron?” stammered the nurse who’d been untying Sarah.
“Well.” Lilith smiled, exposing sharp-edged teeth. “Not exactly.”
L
ilith cocked an eyebrow at the confused security guard. “I don’t suppose I can convince you that these are approved visitors?”
He gaped at her.
Lilith sighed regretfully. “I didn’t think so. In that case …” She drew back her hand, pointing her fingers—and, still smiling, thrust it straight through the security guard’s chest.
The humans never had a chance. Even as the guard started to crumple, Lilith was moving in a blur of superspeed. Two sharp cracks rang out, and then Lilith was back where she had started, still wearing that small, pleased smile. The security guard’s body hit the
ground, immediately followed by the orderly and the nurse; limp, necks broken.
“We’ll have to do this the other way.” Lilith licked delicately at the blood covering her fingers. She stepped over the bodies, her gaze sweeping over both Sarah and myself. “Are you quite all right, my darlings?”
Ebon interposed his own body between the woman and myself. His hands were raised defensively, though his movements were stiff, the wounds in his shoulders still only half closed.
“You.”
“Me,” Lilith agreed. She shimmered for an instant, mist rippling down her form from head to toe. When it cleared, she stood six inches taller: a straight, elegant figure with a narrow chin and razor-sharp cheekbones, her dark hair in a geometrically precise bob. She exuded an effortless chic so compelling that I wanted to do nothing more than sit at her feet and stare up at her.
Her black, slanted eyes watched Ebon warily. “Xanthe darling.” Her voice was like chocolate over caramel; it even made me like the sound of my first name. “You must have a lot of questions.”
“Uh—” I was sure that I
had
, but at the moment my mind was completely blank. She was like every head girl, every clique leader and trendsetter and sports team
captain that I’d ever wanted to impress, all crammed into one package. And all I could think was that I was short and squat and had a stupid haircut.
Oh God, she was
looking
at me. What had the question been again? “Yes?” I squeaked, panicked.
“As soon as we get out of here, we’ll have a lovely, long chat, I promise.” My blood sang in my veins as she smiled at me. She liked me! She wanted to talk to me! “But first I need you to help me with a little something.”
“Jane!” Ebon shouted. I glared at him. How could he be so rude as to interrupt
her
when she was speaking? “Jane, no, don’t—”
“I just need you to help me kill this man,” Lilith said, raising one long, elegant hand to wave languidly at Ebon.
This seemed eminently reasonable. After all, he was evasive and weird and had a dumb accent. One of the silver spikes that Van had pounded through him earlier was lying next to my foot; dreamily, I reached down and picked it up. All I had to do was stick it straight through his chest, and all my problems would be over.
“Jane, no.” Ebon backed away as I straightened. His eyes flicked from me to Lilith and back again. “Jane, wake up!”
“What’s going on?” Sarah’s voice sounded wobbly as she struggled back to consciousness. She pushed herself upright with an obvious effort, rubbing at deep red marks ringing her wrists and ankles where her bonds had cut into her flesh. I could feel the blood moving through the veins under her skin, as strong and sweet as if it beat in my own. I felt the jolt that went through her as she saw Lilith. “What’s happening?”
“Wait a sec,” I said to her reassuringly over my shoulder. Ebon was backed into the corner; he tried to duck past me, but I caught him with a hand round his throat. “I just have to kill this man, and then I’ll explain everything.”
“Huh?” Her confusion beat through my heart, fogging Lilith’s brilliant light. “I thought—isn’t that your friend?”
“Fight it, Jane!” The man’s hands clawed at my own, but I was easily stronger than him. “You know me, remember?”
“Wait!” Sarah pitched herself off the bed, stumbling forward to grab my sleeve. “You said he was a good guy.”
“Hush, Sarah darling,” commanded Lilith, impatience biting in her voice. “Xanthe,
now
.”
I stared at the man I held pinned against the wall.
Did
I know him? I could feel his throat vibrating under my palm—he was humming something, desperately, his eyes locked on mine, willing me to remember.
Iron Maiden. He was humming an Iron Maiden song.
My living room, colored notes flashing up on the TV screen, his long, elegant hands flying over the buttons, his blue eyes alight with glee.
When it came to a choice between the exotic vampire sire I’d seen kill three people, or the dork I’d watched rocking out on a miniature plastic guitar, there was
no contest.
I flipped the spike around, pressing it into his hand as I released him. “Ebon,
go
!” Lilith blurred, but he was even faster. There was an instant of confused motion, then they were both stationary again, but at opposite ends of the room. There was a tear in the collar of Ebon’s coat; Lilith’s perfect bob was slightly mussed. They stared at each other, perfectly motionless.
“No, stop!” Sarah’s hand clutched at me as I cast around frantically, looking for something to use to help Ebon. “Make them stop it!”