Disarming (6 page)

I shifted over in my chair to let him peek over and observe the shots I had paused on the screen. His eyes roamed over the figures, taking in every detail. “Rye, they’re human. They have to be.” Turning back, I admired their human eyes and noticed how their skin tones were not so pale, like the soft translucent white of the hybrids. “Maybe they’re like me. Maybe I’m not alone after all.”

Rye frowned and leaned back in his chair, his face scrunching up as his lips turned down. “But you’re not alone, April.” The chair creaked as if answering for me.

“You know what I mean.” I ignored his reaction and beamed at the screen, printing out the pictures of what felt like a discovery of treasure. After our work was done, I would take to the streets alone to clear my mind. Rye would let me, knowing how too much time spent together created more of a wedge between us rather than sealed the gap. Each time I left on my own, the longing in his eyes was more than apparent. It radiated from his entire being. He wanted to come, wanted to follow me through the streets, I could feel it. But I never invited him.

Maybe it was an old habit I had acquired in my year of solitude or just a means to escape. Either way, it helped me think without any interruptions, without any kind of distraction.

Sometimes being alone was good.

Chapter Six

We’re All Monsters

April

IT IS SAID
that time is unrelated to everything else. It goes on and on, unnoticing of our actions, our falls, our triumphs. Who’s to care then, if time does not remember us? It flies by, fleeting, inattentive and disinterested in any occupants of this earth. What are we, then, if time thinks so little of everyone it passes? Time is truly apathetic to the many to whom a little empathy would mean so much.

The time I had spent watching the humans on the computer screens and thinking about them had left room for little else. I wanted to know more about them; where did they live, where were they hiding in this city? Why had I not ever seen them before? I had so many questions flooding my mind that it left me restless and stirred up my thoughts. I had been struck dumb with shock. For the first time, I had been truly baffled, left not knowing what to think. But I was also strangely exhilarated.

I didn’t tell Mom too much about what I had seen that day. She seemed disinterested, further retreating into the shell she was constructing around herself as the days went on. The nagging hunger within her pummeled her senses, leaving her lost inside herself, muttering about delusions. Would it be long before she succumbed to it? How long before her delirium overwhelmed the person she had once been? Her moans and constant shifting around in her bed kept me awake through the long nights, making me grateful that Jeremy could sleep through it. He’d miss a hurricane if one ever came through here. I never did sleep soundly. It was a curse of sorts, to always be aware, to always know that monsters did exist in the world.

The click of the doorbell shook me from the semi-consciousness that posed for sleep. I sat up, jerked into awareness in a heartbeat. It didn’t stop my heart from arresting in my chest, making me heave in a breath to calm the ache. Half pulling on my shoes and grabbing the machete that always was on my bedside table, I glanced back, relieved that Jeremy was still asleep. The back room where my mother now dwelled was as silent as a tomb. I nearly stumbled to the security monitors to peek at the view of the bunker’s entrance.

A familiar outline shifted in the dark green of the night vision camera. Light reflected back from vampire-haloed eyes as Rye stared at me through the screen. He waited as I turned on the mike to speak to him.

“Password?”

“
Nevermore
.”

I could almost feel his eyes rolling on the other side of the metal door. I clicked the lock open, allowing him to slide through quickly. I shut it as quietly and as swiftly as I could, keeping my eyes focused on the darkened blanket of the forest around the house. With the locks back in place, I finally turned toward him, placing the machete down at the surveillance desk. I plopped into one of the chairs, pushing back the wild hair that now shifted around my face.

“Rye, what’s going on?” Rubbing my face, I yawned, feeling the fatigue roll through me. “It’s really late.”

“I have information on the humans we saw the other night.” He rolled his shoulders, appearing tired also. “And…I couldn’t sleep.” His eyes met mine. Longing and sadness swam in them as he continued. “Plus, I wanted to see you.”

I perked up slightly, all ears and definitely more awake. I stifled the urge to keep yawning and to let my eyes roll deliriously back into their sockets.
Man, I’m so tired!
“Oh, okay.” I laid my head on the desk, waiting for him to continue, knowing full well I was ignoring half of what he was saying. “So spit it out already.”

Rye laughed, his eyes twinkling with amusement. He knew he could prolong this torment by dragging out the details; he’d do it just to get a rise out of me. Sometimes I thought he could very well have a deeply hidden sadistic side. “Well, it could be just a rumor but….”

“But?” He had my attention now. I sat up, my back straight as I stared wide eyed back at him.

Yep, definitely sadistic.

“But we haven’t confirmed it yet.”

“Confirmed what?” I wanted to shake him. “What rumor?”

“Blaze heard it some time ago, a rumor that there was an underground city of humans—uninfected humans—under one of the larger casinos. In pre-epidemic times there was a story that one of the casino owners was some nuclear fallout paranoid guy who supposedly had a city built under his casino capable of sustaining its population for years without contact with the outside world.”

I chewed on my lip as I thought it over. It was possible. There were a few bunkers I had discovered since I’d found the one in the mountains. None were as well fortified as our home abode was; some were impossible to enter. Some had been hit already and destroyed. This could very well be a true rumor, for all we knew. But how could we confirm it?

“Do you know what casino it was rumored to be built under?”

“Yes. The Wynn. But there are many possibilities.”

“Hmm.” I tapped my temple as I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking back on the days I’d traipsed throughout The Strip. I barely remembered the Wynn Hotel & Casino. It was so vague in my mind, I doubted I had walked through it more than once. Maybe twice. Not a good start at all. “Are you very familiar with the Wynn?”

Rye shook his head and sighed; he knew what we were up against. If there were humans down there that could wrangle up dozens of ferals, it would definitely be difficult to infiltrate. Their techniques and coordination were too good to presume that they would be merely ordinary humans. I doubted it. They could be highly-trained black ops soldiers, for all I knew. I was excited and disturbed at the same time. Could it be what I had hoped to find all this time, ever since the epidemic stole my life away? I wished there was more concrete evidence, but I’d take anything, even now, after all this time.

“Me neither.” I slumped in the chair, letting my head roll over to where the small, curled-up lump of my brother lay softly snoring under the blankets. Thank God he was a sound sleeper. I would literally have to shake him awake if I ever needed him to evacuate during the dead of night. I wasn’t that lucky. I don’t think I’d slept through a night in over a year. “So what’s the plan, Rye? Tell me you didn’t waltz over here in the middle of the night without one.” Eyeing him, I could’ve sworn I saw that pale, smooth skin of his flush ever so slightly. It was alarmingly pleasurable to see him shift in his seat.

“Well, the thing is, Blaze doesn’t really have a plan yet. It’s not going well. No one can decide what to do about this group. If we exterminate them….”

“Whoa, wait…exterminate them? No.” I straightened up and gave him a death glare. He shifted again, knowing I didn’t like this suggestion one bit. “Under no circumstances will that be our first plan.” I gritted my teeth, seething but trying to think at the same time. That was their plan? Ridiculous!

“Look, April, it wasn’t my plan. It’s not really even a plan, actually. It was just brought up in case it was something we might have to do. We don’t know what we’re up against—a small band of vigilantes, or scores of humans? Who knows? We have to prepare for the possibility that they might not want to be found. They might be aggressive, for all we know.”

“If they didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t have come to the surface to lynch mob hordes of feral vampires in the first place.” I threw up my hands in frustration. I knew Blaze’s hive meant well; I understood their objective was to stay alive themselves. But this shouldn’t be just their decision. They weren’t human. Jeremy and I still were. It should never be left up to them. A human factor should always be involved when dealing with them.

Rye’s silence made me glance toward him again. I willed my anger to subside as I took in his calm silhouette. I couldn’t stay angry at him. He was right, it wasn’t his fault. He was third in command, not the leader of the hive. No matter what kind of allies I had found in them, we were still two very different creatures.

“You know I support whatever it is you want to do with this, April. I came here to warn you, though. Blaze thinks that if they are exterminating ferals, we might be next on their list. It could cause an all-out war. Best we leave them be for now.” He paused, but then decided to keep talking. “I didn’t want you to hear it at the hive meeting or from Blaze without warning you first. It would not have been pretty to surprise you in that way. That’s why I came here tonight. I knew you’d want to know.”

He reached over, scooping my small fingers into his strong ones. I felt his semi-warm hands envelope mine. My own looked fragile and delicate. But as I curled the thin fingers inward, I felt their strength—a strength that could wreak havoc on anyone that got in my way. How deceitful it was to look so innocent and yet be so dangerous.

Finding his shiny, steel eyes focused on me, I knew that the same went for him and his kind. Beautiful to a flaw. Super strength and immortality did nothing to hide the monsters within. We all were, one way or the other. Were we all not vampires of one kind or another? Even when their kind of monster was only a thing of fairytales, stories gone awry all over the internet, books galore, paranormal vices to read well into the night until the sun greeted you with another day? Now I could only wish it was not real. Now it was nothing but a continual, nightmarish story that never ended, unrelenting with never any hint of what horrors would come next. Everlasting.

“Thank you,” I whispered back to him, enjoying the warmth of his fingers. I traced the lines on the tops of his hands, feeling every bump, every indention on his perfect porcelain skin. “But if we let them exterminate entire hives of ferals, just like that, without provocation, then we are no better than the monsters.” I cringed at my words, knowing the kind of hypocrite I sounded like.

Rye nodded, but I could tell he didn’t fully agree with me. It disturbed him to hear me talk like that, as though the ferals were real people and the humans, no matter how malicious they may be, were real people too. It was worth it to find them, at least, it was to me. I knew then that I was alone on this. I’d have to seek out the humans on my own. He’d never allow it and neither would Blaze. They might do everything in their power to stop me from ever contacting the others.

In the end, I was alone after all.

Chapter Seven

Secret

Elijah

THE VIEW WAS
everything one could hope for. He sat perched at the edge of the rooftop of the Palms Hotel & Casino, letting the soft breeze dance with the overgrown brown locks of his hair. The sun scorched his slightly tanned skin, but his medium-toned coloring kept the sunburns at bay. This was his only getaway, his one reprieve from the claustrophobia of the underground. The horizon was clear of smog, very unlike the skies before, when it was a bustling city. Only shattered rooftops and clouds for company now. He snuck up here whenever he could, which was rare.

It was an outdoor deck, hung high above the city streets and part of an old dance club he used to frequent before the epidemic. It still had an amazing sound system, and he had rigged up a generator to keep the place running. He’d also hooked one to a still-functional elevator. Fortunately, he wouldn’t have to walk up and down the stairs to his favorite oasis in the hell that was life now. Nothing compared to the solace he felt up there. Even the few ferals that managed to infiltrate the casino downstairs in his absence didn’t bother him. He exterminated them quickly with an array of traps he had strewn across the casino floor and along the way to the elevator shaft.

He’d frequently find them hanging from one foot, dangling and snapping their dripping jaws at him as he entered. Some traps dragged the ferals to the inner courtyard, where the sun shone brightly through the overhead windows, filling it with light and incinerating the intruders when the sun rose. He kept house here; it was a sanctuary he considered the closest thing to a home that he had at this time. The underground city of Vida was suffocating, and he needed to breathe. No one knew of this place, not even Sarah, his second in command. And definitely not the other ten human hybrids on his specialized security team. He liked it that way.