The Fugitives, A Dystopian Vampire Novel: Book Four: The Superiors Series (14 page)

CHAPTER tWENTY-FOUr

Cali woke with a start, her hand on the blunt end of a stake Draven had made. She jumped up, alert and full of sudden panic. She’d often considered escaping from Draven, but upon waking alone on the wet ground, not a shred of that desire remained. All she wanted was to find him leaning against the other side of the tree, as he’d been when she’d fallen asleep. Surely he wouldn’t leave her…

Unless.

Unless he went for firewood and Master found him. But no. If Byron had found Draven, he would have come for Cali next. They wouldn’t leave her out here to starve.

Would they?

She squinted into the darkness, trying to make out a shape in the endless expanse of flatness around her. She heard only bugs and frogs singing their songs of contentment at the evening that brought her so much discomfort. They were singing back and forth to each other. But Cali didn’t feel like singing.

“Draven?” she called, her voice trembling. Then louder, and louder still, until she was shouting and then screaming his name into the damp night. The frogs or bugs or birds had fallen silent, and only her desperate voice remained, calling over and over for him.

And then his icy hand slid around her face, covering her mouth. She struggled against him, dragging his arm away and choking back the hiccupping sob of relief that threatened to rip from her in place of screams.

“Shhh,” he whispered. “Stop that racket or he’ll hear us. We can do this nice and civil. It’s even easier than I thought it would be.”

In a moment, her relief was gone. It was all wrong, he was all wrong. Thrashing wildly, she fought to free herself as he began dragging her backwards, his grip as immovable as steel cuffs. She opened her mouth to scream, but his hand clamped down again. Her feet squelched in the soggy grass and earth underneath, and she couldn’t breathe, only grope at his hand and pry at the stone fingers that crushed into her cheeks and lips. She tried to bite down, but her jaws were trapped too far open. Her mind began slogging slowly away, the way she and Draven had moved that day, stumbling and faltering but never ceasing to continue their movement onwards.

Onwards into Byron’s waiting arms.

Through the darkness, she glimpsed her Superior, wet as he had been in the rainstorm, his soft hair plastered to his forehead, his clothes streaming water. She thought she imagined it, but then his voice drifted into what remained of her consciousness, smooth and deep as the darkness around them.

“Hello, Byron,” he said. “So we meet again.”

Byron stopped walking, his grip loosening the littlest bit, and Cali knew she wasn’t dreaming.

“It would seem so,” Byron said.

“I believe you have something that belongs to me.” Draven stepped closer, his hands in his pockets. He looked awfully unconcerned about Cali’s well-being.

Byron laughed, a horrible sound that made Cali shudder. Flashes swam before her eyes—a boy who glowed and blood everywhere and Draven.

“No,” Byron said. “I have something that belongs to me.” He shook Cali as if to emphasize his point.

“It seems she’d rather not go with you,” Draven said.

“Do you think that concerns me? Do you think we’ll each stand here with a piece of bacon, call her like a dog, and see who she comes to?” Draven didn’t say anything, but Byron laughed again. “You don’t even know what that means, do you? You see, you’ll never get away, no matter how many times you run, because you’re not smart enough. You’ll never be as smart as a Second. You’re nothing, Draven. A petty criminal, canaille. No one will miss you.”

“Are you planning to leave me for dead like the last time our paths crossed?”

“Oh, no,” Byron said. “I made that mistake once. This time, I’m not going to leave you for dead. I’m going to leave you dead. You’re a murderer. It’s my job to bring you in. When they say dead or alive, they’re giving me the choice. I like to keep things neat. Or have you forgotten?”

“How could I forget?” Draven said. “You taught me to kill. I’ll not soon forget that lesson.”

“You think you’ll kill me? For this sap? I could snap her neck as easy as snapping my fingers.”

“But you won’t. You already would have if you meant to.”

“I’m glad one of us is so confident,” Byron said, backing away another step. “What is she to me now that you’ve damaged her so grotesquely? I’ve replaced her already.”

“Then what matter, if I were to have her?”

“You’re a despicable, deplorable man who does horrifying things to helpless animals,” Byron said, still in retreat. “Did you think I’d stand by and let you indulge in your bestiality because you were once a friend? All the more reason I won’t tolerate it.”

Cali tried to maintain the same tension in her body while her hand moved slowly, slowly towards one of the stakes in her pants.

“And what is it you think I’ve done?” Draven asked. “You think we’re lovers?”

“Lovers?” Byron asked, snorting into Cali’s hair. “Lovers? Is that how you delude yourself? Are you one of those men who convinces yourself it’s consensual? I didn’t take you for the shiniest piece of trash in the dump, but I thought you had more brains than that. I’d almost prefer that you tortured her intentionally for the power trip. At least then you’d only be cruel, instead of cruel and brainless.”

Draven advanced a step as Byron retreated. This wasn’t much of a battle of Superiors. Cali had expected violence and blood and screaming, like when the trackers attacked. But these two seemed more inclined to have a little chat while she dangled from Byron’s arm, scarcely able to draw a breath. Her hand closed over the blunt end of a stake, but she didn’t think she could pull it without drawing attention.

As Draven closed the distance between them in increments, Byron took his right hand from around Cali’s middle to find his gun. He kept his left hand on her mouth, holding her body in front of him like a shield while he loosed his weapon.

Cali found her moment.

Byron’s attention was diverted. As his hand shifted on her mouth, the tension of his fingers being pressed together collapsed and one finger slipped between her teeth. She clamped her teeth on his knuckle. Byron cursed and shifted her weight, but she’d already yanked the stake from her waistband.

She rammed it behind her with all her force.

The sharpened point tore into the fabric of his pants and sank into his flesh before coming to an abrupt stop when it met bone. She’d thrust the stake as hard as she could, where she could. It wasn’t a mortal blow, but it was painful enough for Byron to let out a tortured cry and fling Cali from him. She went flying, twisting through the air before falling to the ground, stunned, still clutching the bloody stake in her fist.

The grass and mud had likely saved her life. While she fought to suck in a breath and gather herself, she heard a metallic ping. Draven cried out, and both Superiors crashed to the ground, making very un-Superior noises, grunting and straining.

Cali pushed herself upright, trying to make out who was winning, but in the dark, she could only tell that two people struggled on the ground. Draven leapt at her before she realized he’d broken free. He scooped her up and ran. She clutched his shoulders, trying to hold tight so he wouldn’t have to support her weight, which bounced awkwardly against him. The pinging sound came again, and Draven swore and leapt aside. Cali tightened her grasp further.

“What’s that noise?” she asked, her voice coming in uneven bursts.

“He’s shooting at us,” Draven said.

The next moment, Cali knew firsthand. The noise came again, and in seemingly the same moment, a fireball lodged itself in her calf. A scream tore from her throat. When she turned to look back, she couldn’t see anything but darkness. They couldn’t hide. There was nothing but open space around them.

Draven grunted, and the force of a bullet hitting its target rippled through his body. He sucked in a breath and froze.

“Go,” Cali whispered, yanking at his neck. After a bit of urging, he stumbled forward again, not slowing until they came to an incline. With Cali clinging to him, he scrambled down the slope. At the bottom, he pushed her into a flat, metal boat.

“Where did you find this?” she asked through clenched teeth. Stopping herself from screaming again took great effort.

“While you were sleeping,” Draven said in a strange, nasal voice. “I didn’t think he’d come so soon.”

“I was calling you,” Cali said, wincing and sucking in air when she touched her leg. She wanted to fix it, to see what was wrong, but when she tried to feel the wound, pain overwhelmed her.

“Yes,” Draven said. He pushed the boat into the water and heaved himself over the edge. The boat rocked wildly. “He’ll be here in a moment. Let us cross.”

The current washed the boat down the river faster than it could move towards the opposite bank. Draven paddled furiously with a flimsy oar that didn’t do much.

“Maybe he’s too hurt to follow us,” Cali said. “Maybe he’s dead.”

“I smell him. He’s here.”

“What do we do?”

“Reach the opposite shore before he does. He’ll lose our trail if we get far enough ahead so he doesn’t see us leave the water.”

A shot ricocheted off the water. The second one pierced the metal side of the boat. Water began spewing in. Cali covered the hole with her palm and turned to Draven.

He had stopped paddling.

“What’s wrong?” Cali asked.

“I… I’m fine.” But he didn’t paddle.

“Did you get hit?”

“I don’t think…I don’t know. I can’t…it’s so strange…”

The shots were further off now. Cali couldn’t see either bank of the river, just the shape of a tree on the far side against the blue-black sky.

“Come on,” she said. “We’ve got to get out of here. The boat’s sinking.”

“I can’t.”

“What is wrong with you?” Cali asked, snatching the paddle. “Get out of the way. How do you do this, anyway?”

“Just pull, like this,” Draven said, showing her. His arms looked functional enough.

“What’s wrong with you?” Cali asked, yanking the paddle through the water. “First you run off while I’m sleeping. You couldn’t have told me before you left me in the middle of nowhere in the dark? How was I supposed to know Byron would hear me?”

“I didn’t wish to awaken you. You need sleep, and you looked peaceful.”

“It sure was peaceful waking up freezing cold and alone without you or the backpack. I thought you’d left me out there to die. And you know what was even more peaceful? When it turned out I wasn’t alone, because Byron was right behind me.”

“I’m…sorry.” His voice still sounded nasal, which annoyed Cali more. She held onto her anger to distract her from the pain in her leg and to keep her strength. The river seemed endless, and they flowed down and down and didn’t seem to move towards the far bank at all.

“Well, you should be sorry,” she said. “Here I thought I couldn’t do anything. But I was having my face ripped in half and being smothered at the same time, and you just stood there having a chat like he’s your friend. Then I have to stab him and bite him while you don’t do anything. Now I’m shot in the leg, and I have to get us across this river because you apparently can’t, though your arms look good and fine to me.”

“I don’t know what happened…”

“That’s convenient,” Cali muttered, throwing her weight back and forward with the oar. When they had almost reached the opposite shore, Draven leapt from the boat. Water began rushing in the hole again. At least he’d had the good sense to plug it while she paddled. He waded through the icy water, pulling the boat after him, and scrambled up the rocky bank. Finally, they had reached the forested area he had promised.

“I’m sorry.” He panted like he’d exerted himself pulling the boat in. She looked at him good for the first time, but in the darkness, she couldn’t see his expression. “I shouldn’t have left you like that,” he said. “I wanted to bring you food. I found this river instead, and I wanted to surprise you…”

“Well, that’s all very nice, but someone is still after us with a gun so I think you can skip the apology for now.”

“I wanted you to know. If I die...”

“Good, good, fine. If you die, I know you’re sorry. I’ll probably be dead, too, so it won’t matter much, but I heard you.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“Holy sap-crap, you’re useless tonight,” Cali said. “Yes, I forgive you. Now let’s get away from here quick.”

“I needed you to know.”

“I think you’re badgering me,” she said. He didn’t answer, just carried the boat along through the scrubby trees. After a minute, Cali wondered if he was laughing at her and she said, “Did I use it right?”

“Perfectly.” After a bit, he said, “I’ve never heard you swear before.”

“That’s a swear? Badgering?”

“No, you swear when you’re…in danger.”

“I can’t walk with this souldamned thing in my leg.” With both of them limping and clumsy, they hadn’t made it far. The pain was throbbing, stabbing into her like a knife every time she took a step, even if she didn’t put weight on that leg. She would have given anything in the entire world just to sit down and scream the pain away.