Dominion of the Damned (39 page)

And then her claws came out. Literally.

She swiped at Hannah’s face, but Hannah got her arm up in time to block the attack. It sliced deep into Hannah’s forearm, causing her to cry out in pain. “Hannah!” she heard Alek cry out in alarm, and the baby started to cry. But they sounded far enough away that she knew they were safe. Esme took another swipe at Hannah. This time her block was better, stopping Esme in mid-swing and avoiding her claws. She stiffened her free hand and aimed a chop at Esme’s throat, then planted a hard front kick in the center of her chest, knocking her back as she gasped for air. Again, she stumbled to the edge of the stable’s shelter without crossing into the light.

Hannah’s instinct was to tackle her and knock her into the light, but as she started forward she stumbled, her head feeling light and woozy. She looked down at her arm and saw that she was bleeding heavily.

“Give it up,” said Esme. “Clearly, you’ve got your limits, but I don’t. I can do this all day.”

Hannah forced herself to take another step forward. “I don’t need all day,” she said, but she didn’t feel nearly as confident as she tried to sound. “I told you I’d kill you if you touched my brother again. People have died because of you. My friend, Phyllis, and Abby’s father, the man I saw you murder, and who knows how many more. And I’m not going to let you shut us down. It’s over, Esme. You don’t get to be in charge anymore.”

Esme’s response surprised her. “Why you?” she asked. “Why did he choose you, after all I’ve done for him?” She looked out at Alek, who stood watching them in helpless frustration as he held the baby out of harm’s way. “Why couldn’t he love me the way I loved him?”

Hannah felt a sudden, inexplicable stab of pity for the creature in front of her. She could see fear in the vampire’s eyes. Not fear of Hannah, but of the future. Of the unknown. Hannah knew that kind of fear well. “Because you never really loved him,” she said. “You’ve forgotten what it means to love someone.” Hannah shook her head, and the motion made her dizzier. “Maybe you never really knew.”

Esme laughed, but it sounded bitter. “And you do?”

“I know I’ll die before I let you hurt them any more.”

Esme looked again from her to Alek, and seemed to be weighing her options. Behind Hannah, she could hear the other vampire, Celine, starting to come to. Esme shot her a look of contempt, then, shaking her head, pulled her mask back down over her face, and ran into the light. At first Hannah thought she was making a run for Alek and Noah, but instead she leapt up onto the wall of the fort and scaled it, then jumped down on the other side.

“She’s getting away,” said Celine, scrambling to her feet. “We have to stop her!”

Hannah tried to comply, but as she took a step forward to pursue Esme, her vision swam and she lost her balance.

FIFTY-TWO

Alek caught her before she hit the ground. Cradling Noah in one arm and Hannah in the other, he sunk to the ground with her. “Let me see your arm,” he said, setting the baby on the ground. He sucked air in through his teeth. “It’s deep. You’ve lost a lot of blood. But look.” He angled her forearm for her to see. “It’s already starting to heal.”

She marveled at the way the bleeding had already stopped and her skin was beginning to knit itself back together. She also realized that she already felt stronger, and could sit up on her own. She pulled the baby into her lap. “How is this happening?” she asked. “The vaccine? You said it was a cure.”

“Not the vaccine,” he said. “
Us
. It’s in our blood. A vaccine for the z-virus, and a cure for vampirism.”

Hannah stared up at him in disbelief. She reached up to touch his face, and rested her hand on his neck, where she felt his pulse. “How?”

“I…” He smiled, almost apologetically. “You were dying.”

It took a moment for the implication to dawn on her. “You… you turned me.”

He nodded. “I always suspected they were linked. The viruses, I mean. When I took your blood into me, somehow the vampiric strain in my blood must have combined with the components of the vaccine. When I fed you my blood, it counteracted the progress of the contagion.” He became more animated as he spoke. “You’re…
we’re
some sort of hybrid, I think. Not vampires, exactly, but…”

“But not exactly human, either.”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure exactly how it worked. I’ll need to do more research. But the main thing is, it’s in us now. We can synthesize it from our blood and make enough for everyone.” He looked into her eyes and took her hand. “I know what I promised. I’m sorry. But I just couldn’t let you go. Not like that.”

She looked at Noah, who had stopped crying now that he was in her arms where he belonged. She shuddered to think what would have happened to him if Alek hadn’t tried everything he could think of to save her. “It’s okay,” she said, leaning into him. “I get it. I would’ve done the same thing, if it had been the other way around.”

He wrapped his arms around her and Noah. “I love you,” he breathed against her hair. When she tilted her face up to look at him, he met her with a kiss, full of love and tenderness, and the relief he must have felt at not losing her.

They were interrupted as Celine returned from her pursuit of Esme. “I can’t find her,” she said, removing her protective mask. “She couldn’t have gotten far, but there are so many places to hide.”

“It’s fine,” said Alek. “If she sticks around here, we’ll deal with her.” He nodded toward the other guards, still unconscious on the ground. “What about them?”

“They probably don’t know what hit them,” said Celine. “I’ll think of something to tell them. But they’re not satisfied with the status quo. They might be open to helping us. Helping
you
, I mean.”

“Thank you,” said Hannah. “If you hadn’t intervened—”

“Don’t make me regret it,” said the vampire.

“We won’t,” Alek promised her. “What will you do now?”

“Get them back to the chopper,” she said, indicating her colleagues, “and get us home. I’ll tell the Council that we couldn’t find you. That should buy you time to do whatever you need to do to process more of the cure. At least, until Esme makes her way back to the Council and tells them the truth.”

“We’ll get it ready before she has a chance to do that,” said Alek. “Thank you, Celine.”

“Just make sure I’m first in line when it’s ready.” She went to crouch next to one of the fallen vampires. “You probably shouldn’t still be here when they wake up.”

Alek climbed to his feet and helped Hannah up. Hand in hand, with Noah snuggled up against Hannah’s chest, they walked out of the fort and into the day. Alek paused, lifting his face up to the sun, then pulled Hannah into his arms for another long, deep kiss.

She didn’t know how long they stood there, holding each other with Noah between them, basking in the morning sun. She didn’t know a lot of things, like what they had both become, or what it meant. But she knew a couple of things, the only things that really mattered to her at that moment. She knew that she and her brother were safe, and that he would have a chance at a decent life. And she knew that, whatever this day or the next brought with it, she wouldn’t have to face it alone. She had a partner now, an equal, and he loved her. And she loved him.

“So what happens now?” she asked.

“Now?” Alek looked down at her and Noah, and smiled. “Now we go change the world.”

###

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Dominion of the Damned
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About the Author

Jean Marie Bauhaus is an author of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and horror. Her first novel, the romantic ghost story RESTLESS SPIRITS, debuted in 2011. Her latest novel is the post-apocalyptic vampire/zombie dystopia DOMINION OF THE DAMNED. She's currently working on RADIUM TOWN, a Weird West steampunk horror novel set in Oklahoma at the dawn of statehood. She lives in Tulsa,

Oklahoma with her husband, Matt, a gaggle of furbabies (and a turtle), and a yarn stash of gargantuan proportions.

Keep up with her writing progress and various ramblings about life, the universe and everything (but mostly writing) at
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Read more books by Jean Marie Bauhaus

Novels

Restless Spirits

Novelettes & Shorts

Eucha Falls

Shiny: A Clockwork Fairytale

Collections

Fragments & Fancies: Ficlets, Flach Fiction & Shorts

Acknowledgments

This book had a long road from start to finish, and I didn’t get there alone. I owe thanks to the Tulsa chapter of NaNoWriMo (and our co-MLs, Michelle Pierce and Rebekah Loper) — they were there when I started the first attempt in November 2009, and again when I raced to the finish in November 2011, cheering me on; my fantastic, eagle-eyed beta readers, Stevie Puckett, Jill Robi, and especially Jen Larsen, who must have been an editor in another life because she really whipped this story, and my protagonist, into shape; my oldest friend and perpetual cheerleader, Tess Smith, whose response to reading my stories is always and has always been, “I love it! Keep writing!”; and my husband, Matt, who probably deserves a medal for the way he supports me and puts up with my writerly quirks. Or at least a neck rub.

This time around I had a little extra help getting to the finish line: Brian Francis, Joy and Billy Carr, Josie Morin, Rebecca Knight, Carla Barnes-Martin, Jason Prout, Brittany Moore, and Emily Nimz — thank you so much for your support! This book would look a lot different if not for you.