The Eternity Cure (31 page)

“No,” he agreed, his voice choked. “But it does not excuse what I did. You haven’t been a vampire long enough to understand. To think that I…” He released me and turned away, hunching his broad shoulders. I again remembered his words to me in the hospital, explaining vampire history and customs.
Vampires do not feed from each other. It’s one of the most violent, intrusive acts we can commit on another kindred, and is viewed as barbaric and needlessly cruel by most.

“And yet, you’re still here.” His voice was a little stronger now, and he straightened, though he still didn’t look at me. “You found your way. I hardly dared to hope.”

“Of course I did.” I frowned at him, stung. “Kanin, I wouldn’t leave you like that. Not with Psycho Vamp. Not after everything you did for me. What, did you think I could just ignore the dreams, knowing what Sarren was doing? You think I’d just abandon you?”

“You would not be the first,” Kanin said, and finally turned. His eyes, so dark, hooded and full of shadows, met mine and did not shy away. “I don’t find myself in this position very often,” he admitted with a hint of his old confidence. “But…thank you. Out of all my offspring, you are the only one with which I have no regrets.”

I couldn’t handle that piercing gaze, the way he was staring at me. Embarrassed, needing to break the tension, I half smiled. “Don’t go soft on me,” I told him, and Kanin’s eyebrows rose, making me smile wider. “We’re not out of here yet,” I said, watching his face. “We still need you to help us find Sarren.”

“Sarren.” He narrowed his eyes, probably remembering those long, awful nights where Sarren had tortured him ruthlessly. His voice was dangerously calm as he ordered, “Tell me everything that’s happened.”

So, I did, beginning with those first dreams, following his trail to Old D.C., finding Jackal instead, discovering the other lab and finally tracking him to New Covington, where Sarren had revealed his treachery in a spectacular bloodbath and fled. “We don’t even know if he’s still in the city,” I finished, making a helpless gesture. “But we’re supposed to find him and either beat a cure from him or bring him back for the Prince to deal with.”

“He hasn’t left yet,” Kanin said. I blinked, and the vampire shook his head, frowning. “Whatever he’s planned, he’ll want to stay to see how it ends. That’s how his mind works. He won’t leave without knowing the final results, not when he’s gone through all the trouble of setting this up.” Kanin looked at the door. “He’s in the city, somewhere.”

“Excellent,” said a new voice as the door creaked and Prince Salazar came into the room. “That will make it easier for you, won’t it? As it is, you do not have a lot of time.”

I spun around, placing myself between Kanin and the Prince, and very deliberately on Kanin’s side of the room. I imagined the temperature dropped several degrees as the two Master vampires stared at each other, fury and hatred smoothly hidden beneath their icy facades.

“You should be quite proud of your protégé, Kanin.” Salazar’s voice was a thin veneer of calm over his utter loathing. “No one else would have done what she has, the effort she put forth to save you, when all others would have let you rot down here. I would have let you rot down here.” His lip twitched, his eyes cold and cruel. “Of course, that might still be an option.”

“What have you done to me?” Kanin’s voice was calm, but something in Salazar’s triumphant gaze made my stomach clench in fear. “You wouldn’t just let me go, not without a safeguard. What’s to stop me from leaving New Covington and never coming back?”

He wouldn’t, and I knew he wouldn’t. Kanin wasn’t like that. The question pandered to Salazar’s way of thinking, and by the slow, evil smile spreading across the Prince’s face, I suddenly knew, and my blood turned to ice. Kanin had felt sick when he’d woken this evening. I should’ve known not to trust the Prince, who hated Kanin and wanted to see him suffer, even if he was free.

A dark, coiling thing inside me, spreading through my veins.

“You bastard,” I whispered, glaring at Salazar, and the Prince arched an eyebrow at me. “You gave him infected blood last night!”

Salazar regarded me without remorse. “Are you surprised, Kanin’s daughter?” he asked mildly. “I promised I would set him free, but I needed something to insure you would all go after Sarren and not vanish into the night.” He smiled again, showing fangs. “This will give you that motivation.”

I thought of the dying vampire, the flesh peeling from its bones, turning black and rancid while its eyes pleaded for me to end its life. Enraged and suddenly terrified, I bared my fangs at the Prince of the city and snarled, “Damn you, Salazar! There was no need! You knew we would go after Sarren, regardless!”

“Allison.” Kanin’s cool voice stopped me from doing something monumentally stupid, something that probably would have gotten my head torn off. I almost didn’t care. Salazar knew Kanin wouldn’t try to leave the city. He knew that we were invested in stopping Sarren and finding a cure. Hell, how could we
not
be, with a plague that threatened both species? This was just cruel, evil spite. I had come so far to rescue him; I had watched Kanin drag himself out of madness, endured the awful dreams and visions of torture, and now…now he would probably…

“How long do I have?” Kanin asked, his voice still unnaturally calm. The Prince, watching me with cold, dangerous eyes, turned his attention back to the other vampire.

“About seventy-two hours,” he replied casually, “from the time the first symptoms appear. Give or take a few. After that, the virus reaches the brain and begins to shut it down. Of course, by that time, your body might be too damaged to continue sustaining itself.”

Three days. Three days to find Sarren, discover a cure— if one even existed—and make it back to the Prince, before the virus ravaging Kanin’s body destroyed him. “That’s not enough time!” I protested, and the Prince turned a pitiless glare on me.

“It will have to be enough time. You do not have another choice.”

No, we didn’t. Numbly, I listened as Kanin and Salazar discussed the situation in the Fringe, what we could expect when we left the tower, and our plans to get through the Inner City. Like it was a perfectly normal conversation. Like one of them wasn’t dying from the treachery and betrayal of the other.

“Where do you intend to search first?” Salazar asked.

“The Fringe,” Kanin replied immediately. The vampire Prince raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t believe Sarren is in the Inner City anymore? You think he is hiding among the infected, unable to feed himself?”

Kanin smiled coldly. “It won’t matter where he is now. He will come to us. Because I know where all his research is. I know where he went to unleash this madness.”

“Do you?” Salazar said mildly as I stared at Kanin, frowning. Did he? I sure didn’t, and I had followed Sarren all the way from Old D.C., from the ruined city and the tunnels and the hidden lab…

Oh
. Oh, of course. Kanin
did
know where Sarren had created the virus. I did, too. It was so obvious—why hadn’t I thought of that before? I’d been there. I’d spent my first weeks as a vampire there.

The laboratory beneath the old hospital, where Kanin had taught me how to be an immortal.

“Very well. Then you leave tonight.” Salazar gave me a brief glance as he opened the door. “When you are prepared, I’ll have my guards escort you to the gates.” A faint smile crossed his face as the door began to swing shut. “I truly hope I see you again.”

And we were alone.

I seethed at the closed door for a moment, then turned to the vampire behind me. “Kanin, I had no idea. I didn’t think Salazar would—”

He cut me off with a gesture. “It’s fine, Allison. It’s done.” For just a moment, his face grew dark, and I saw regret pass through his eyes before he shook it off. “We have work to do. Let’s find Sarren and try to stop this insanity in the time I have left.”

Salazar wasn’t in the hall when we emerged, which was a good thing, because I still burned with fury toward the vampire Prince and might’ve said or done something that would’ve gotten me in trouble if he was there. Zeke and Jackal were, however, one leaning casually against the wall, the other standing a few feet away with his arms crossed, wary blue eyes taking everything in. They both straightened when the door opened and I stepped into the hall, followed by Kanin.

“I’m sure you two know each other,” I said, moving aside to watch Jackal and Kanin, wondering if I would see a hint of their past, a clue to what had happened between them.

“Yes,” Kanin said in a toneless voice, staring at Jackal, his face unreadable. “We do.” Jackal stared back, a dangerous smirk on his face, and Kanin smiled faintly. “Hello, James.”

Jackal’s eyes closed, and mine nearly bulged out of the sockets.
“James?”
I said in disbelief, an evil grin spreading over my face as I turned on him. “Your real name is James?”

Jackal sighed, giving Kanin a disgusted look. “Nice one, old man. Well played. You would have to bring that up, wouldn’t you?”

“I believe I also said I would kill you if I ever saw you again.”

“Yeah, well…” Jackal shrugged and nodded to Zeke. “Get in line behind the little bloodsack over there. Although, really,
you
should be the one at the top of his list. It’s kind of amusing, really. That he has no idea who you are, what you’ve done.”

Kanin’s eyes flicked to the human, silently watching this exchange a few yards away. “Kanin,” I said, stepping in before Jackal could do any more damage, “this is Zeke. He came to help us find you. He’s coming with us to look for Sarren, as well.”

I thought he would ask questions, but Kanin just nodded acceptance. I was relieved, but it seemed Jackal wasn’t done yet.

“Oh, and here’s an interesting tidbit for you, Kanin,” the raider king added, his voice low and his eyes gleaming dangerously. “Remember those scientists, the ones working on a cure sixty years ago? The ones you hunted for, handed over our kin to? What was the head guy’s name again? Oh yeah, Malachi. Malachi Crosse.”

Zeke jerked, and Kanin tensed at the name. I turned to Jackal, fangs bared, ready to tell him to shut up, but it was too late.

“Say hello,” the vampire continued, jerking his head at Zeke, “to his great-grandson. Ezekiel Crosse.”

Kanin went rigid. Slowly, he turned, staring at Zeke as if seeing him for the first time, then started toward him. Zeke stiffened but held his ground as the vampire approached, the dark eyes frighteningly intense.

“Kanin,” I began, stepping forward.

My sire ignored me, his entire focus on the human in front of him. “Your father,” he rasped in a low, husky voice, “is Jebbadiah Crosse?”

“Was,” Zeke answered calmly. Briefly, his gaze flicked to Jackal, who was watching this little scene with a smile on his face. Anger rippled over Zeke’s features, making his eyes flash, before they were composed once more. “He died. A few months ago.”

“I am sorry,” Kanin said, and by his tone, he did not miss that brief look between Jackal and Zeke, and could guess what had happened. “But, the research,” he continued, almost desperately, making me blink. I’d never seen him so anxious before. “The vampire experiments. Do you know about them? Do you have the data?”

Zeke shook his head. “Not anymore,” he replied, and Kanin’s shoulders slumped. In that moment, he looked like he’d lost everything, that the terrible burden he carried had finally broken him, and he didn’t have the strength or the will to fight any longer. Zeke shot me a questioning look and I nodded, telling him to go on. “I don’t have it,” Zeke continued softly. “But, it’s safe. It’s in Eden now.”

“Eden.” Kanin’s voice was a whisper, and he raised his head. “Then it’s real. It exists.”

“Don’t ask me to tell you where it is,” Zeke said firmly. “I won’t do that.”

“I would not ask.” Kanin backed away, almost in a fog. “You have no reason to trust me,” he continued, speaking to Zeke though his eyes were distant now, far away. “But, to know that it is safe. That there is still hope…”

He trailed off, but the look on his face made my stomach tighten in sympathy. I was about to say something, but footsteps down the hall announced the approach of Dr. Emerson and a squad of four vampire Elite. The doctor looked bored as he came up, a knapsack in one hand, a small cooler in the other.

“The Prince has decreed that you be resupplied before heading out into the Fringe,” he said flatly, as if this was some unnecessary detail he had to take care of before going back to work. “Here. Supplies for pets…” He tossed the knapsack at Zeke, who caught it with a frown and held out the cooler. “Supplies for vampires. Though I’d suggest you use these soon. They will not keep very long.”

“Forget it,” I growled, eyeing the cooler with suspicion. I remembered the blood bag I had choked down the night before, and my stomach curled. Had it been poisoned, as well? Would I be feeling sick right now if it had? Kanin had known something was wrong, but Kanin was a Master and had been a vampire far longer. Would my body start to rot away in a few hours, the virus consuming it from the inside? I bared my fangs at the thought. “We’re not touching any blood you offer us, ever. Especially after…”

I trailed off as Kanin gave me a sharp look, warning me not to say anything. The glare was obvious: he didn’t want anyone to know he was sick. Frustrated, I fell silent, but no one disagreed with me, though Jackal gave me a bemused look, as if he thought I was being irrational.

The doctor shrugged. “Suit yourself. You should know by now not to feed from any humans out in the Fringe. If their blood is infected, the virus they carry will destroy you.”

“We know that,” I said icily. “Your Prince made it very clear.”

“Good. Then the guards will escort you out.”

And they did, riding the elevator up to the first floor with us, seven vampires and one human packed into one small metal box. I had an odd sense of surrealism as I thought about it—me, my sire, my blood brother and Zeke. Four very different people who, under normal circumstances, would never be together. Who would probably be enemies. But here we were.

There were two vehicles sitting in the street right outside the tower, boxy-looking things with large tires and headlights across the hood. A uniformed human nodded at us as we approached.