The Immortal Rules (39 page)

“That,” he said in a conversational tone completely different from his expression, “wasn’t very smart. Ballsy, but not smart. And after I just offered you a way out, too. Any real vampire would have jumped at the chance. But not you. No, you’re still hung up on the humans.”

It was difficult to listen to him. The stake was still lodged in my stomach, a constant, throbbing agony, making my limbs weak and unresponsive. My fingers slipped, and I clawed frantically at the ledge.

Jackal reached down and grabbed a large chunk of broken concrete, nearly the size of a human skull, and tossed it easily in one hand. “If you’re so fond of these walking bloodbags,” he smiled, raising the stone over his head, “then you can join them in hell.”

I braced myself, knowing I was about to die. But then, I heard footsteps behind Jackal an instant before Jebbadiah Crosse slammed into the raider king from behind. Howling, Jackal toppled over my head, thrashing and flailing, with the old human clinging doggedly to his back. They both sailed into open air, one screaming and one grimly silent, and dropped away into the darkness.

Stunned, I dangled on the ledge, barely coherent, my mind reeling. In a daze, I reached down and grabbed the stake, yanking it free with a scream. It tumbled from my limp fingers and spun end over end, clinking off the building, until it was lost to the dark waters far below.

Trembling, I was able to pull myself into the building again before my limbs gave out, and I sprawled on the tile in front of the smashed window, staring at the ceiling.

I couldn’t move. Pain and Hunger raged within, but I felt hollow, completely drained of life. I was tapped out, done. There was nothing left to repair the damage done to my body, and I could feel myself fading, wanting to slip into the blackness of hibernation, away from the pain.

I wasn’t sure how long I lay there. Somewhere deep within, my body knew it had to move, find shelter. Dawn was coming, and it wouldn’t be long before the first rays of the sun peeled the skin from my bones and turned me into a bonfire. I tried to crawl away, to make my limbs respond, but they were so heavy, and I was so tired. Angry now, I struggled to stay awake, raging against the darkness pulling me under, fighting to move. But as the sun crept closer, it seemed inevitable that my time was finally up.

I slumped, exhausted. This was it. I had nothing left. Dawn was less than an hour away, and it would find me here in the open, helpless to resist. Fitting that I should burn as I left this world for good.

“Allison.”

The voice came out of nowhere, cutting through the layers of darkness. I stirred weakly, not quite believing. Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I was already dead. Then someone knelt beside me and pulled me into their lap, cradling me gently. I wanted to pull away, to struggle, but my body simply wasn’t listening anymore, and I gave up trying to fight it.

“Oh, God,” whispered the voice, familiar and tormented, and I felt something brush the gaping hole in my middle. “Allison, can you hear me? Wake up. Come on, we have to get out of here.”

Zeke?
I thought, dazed. No, that couldn’t be right. Zeke was gone; I’d told him to get out of the city with the others. He should be far away by now. But it
was
his voice, urging me to get up, to open my eyes. I wanted to, but hibernation was pulling at me, drawing me under, and his voice was growing faint. I couldn’t answer him. He shifted me in his arms, and I heard a hiss of pain, as the hot scent of blood suddenly filled the air.

“Please let this work,” he whispered and pressed something to my mouth.

Warm liquid trickled past my lips. Instinctively, I bit down hard and heard a gasp somewhere above me. I barely noticed it, nor did I care. This was life, and I snatched at it greedily, feeling strength returning to my body, shaking off the sluggishness. The Hunger surged up with a roar, as if realizing how close to death we had come, and I bit down savagely, driving my fangs in deep. There was a stifled cry, and the flesh and muscles against my mouth tightened. It drove me crazy with desire. The blood wasn’t flowing fast enough; I wanted to rip and tear the veins open, releasing it in a hot flood. I could feel the pulse at the wrist, throbbing in time with a heartbeat, and wanted to drink and drink until they both faltered and finally stopped.

With a roar, I released the arm and lunged up to the prey’s throat, where the blood pumped the hardest and life flowed just below the surface. Baring my fangs, I was about to sink them into his neck, to release that glorious surge of heat and power, when the body went rigid against mine. I heard a heartbeat quicken, thudding loudly in his chest, and I realized.

Zeke! No, I can’t do this.
Trembling with need and Hunger, I paused, a breath away from his throat, so close I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. Zeke was frozen, his breath coming in gasps, his whole body tense with anticipation and fear. A tiny part of me wanted to draw back, but I couldn’t make myself move. Not with his pulse fluttering an inch from my lips, and the sweet, heady scent of blood filling every part of my senses. I leaned closer, and my lips brushed his skin, a soft, featherlight touch, and Zeke gasped.

And then, as I knelt there shaking, trying to find the willpower to pull away, Zeke moved. Just a fraction, a tiny shift that might’ve gone unnoticed. Except he shivered, took a deep breath and tilted his head back, exposing his throat. Offering it to me. And I couldn’t stop myself.

I lunged, sinking my fangs into his neck, driving them deep. Stifling a cry, Zeke stiffened and gripped my arms, arching his back. His blood coursed hot and sweet into my mouth, spreading through me, a slow-moving fire. It tasted of earth and smoke, of heat and passion and strength, of all things Zeke. He breathed my name, a sigh of benediction and longing, and I couldn’t get close enough, never close enough. His heartbeat roared in my ears, pounding out a savage rhythm, and I lost myself in the moment, cocooned in ecstasy, feeling the essence of this remarkable human swirl through me.

No!
Through the Hunger and bloodlust, a tiny, sane part of me emerged, gasping in horror.
This is Zeke!
it cried out.
This is Zeke you’re feeding from, Zeke’s heartbeat you’re listening to. His blood is saving your life, and you’re going to kill him if you don’t stop now!

The Hunger roared; it wasn’t satisfied, not nearly sated enough. I had nearly been killed and needed more blood to heal completely. But I could not take any more without risking Zeke’s life. Zeke was in no position to push me off; I had to control myself.
Stop,
I told myself firmly, clamping down on my Hunger once more.
No more. That is enough!

With a monumental effort, I pulled away, forcing my fangs to retract. I felt Zeke shudder as my fangs slid from his throat, felt his whole body slump against mine.

For a moment, neither of us moved, and I looked down in horror. Under my assault, Zeke had fallen back and was now resting on his elbows, breathing hard, with me straddling his waist. Blood still oozed from two tiny holes in his neck. He still wore a dazed expression, but when he finally raised his head and looked at me, his eyes were clear.

I froze. He had seen. He had seen me at my worst, a vampire in a snarling, foaming blood frenzy. A monster who had almost killed him on instinct. Until now, even though he’d known what I was, I had at least appeared more or less human. I could only imagine what he thought of me now.

Zeke stared at me, and under his intense gaze I wanted to crawl into a deep hole, but also to pounce on him again, to drive him back to the floor and finish what I’d started. I could feel him shaking underneath me, his heart thudding against my palms.

“Zeke…I…” I didn’t know what to say. What
could
I say? Sorry I almost killed you? That I couldn’t control the demon? That I wanted to keep drinking until you were an empty, lifeless husk?
I didn’t want you to see me like this,
I thought despairingly, closing my eyes.
Out of everyone, I didn’t want you to see the monster.

“Just…” Zeke paused, letting out a breath, as if his body had seized up, and he could just now breathe again. “Just answer me this one question,” he said in a shaky voice. “Does this mean…will I…this doesn’t mean I’m going to Turn, does it?”

I immediately shook my head. “No,” I whispered, glad for something to say. “The process is different. You would have to take some of my blood to become a vampire.”
I would also have to nearly kill you.

He sighed, and some of the tension left his body. “Then…I’m glad I came back.”

I rose, scrambling away from him, and Zeke rolled upright and faced me, pale from cold and pain and blood loss. I turned away, staring at the shattered windows, watching embers from the fires dance on the wind. I felt his gaze on my back, and shame burned through me like the hottest fire.

“Why did you come back?” I whispered. “I told you to keep going. You shouldn’t have…”

“I couldn’t leave you,” Zeke said. “Not after everything you did for us. For me. I had to come back.” I heard his footsteps, felt him step up beside me. From the corner of my eye, I watched him gaze at the city, watching the flames. “The others are safe,” he announced. “They’re at the edge of the city, waiting for us. We should go. I guess…” And his voice faltered, suspiciously close to breaking, and he swallowed hard. “I guess Jeb won’t be coming back with us.”

Jeb.
I felt a blinding stab of guilt. And a hollow emptiness, knowing I had failed them both. “Zeke,” I said, finally turning to face him. “Jeb is…”

“I saw,” he whispered, gesturing to the broken glass, his face tight. “I saw…what he did, when you were beneath the window. I was coming up to the building when the bodies…fell.”

My stomach felt cold. “Did…did Jeb…”

“No.” He shook his head and closed his eyes, as if trying to squeeze out the memory. “There was nothing I could do for him.”

“I’m so sorry.” Words were inadequate. I looked at his trembling shoulders, the fists clenched at his sides, and wished I dared to pull him close for just a moment. “I tried.”

“Not your fault.” His voice broke at the end, and he took a deep breath. “It was his decision. He chose to end it that way, even if it meant saving a…” He paused, raked a hand through his hair. “You must’ve done something to make an impression,” he finished softly. “I knew him for fourteen years, and he never once changed his mind.”

You’re wrong,
I thought.
It wasn’t me he was thinking of tonight, it was you.
Reaching into my pocket, I drew out the small plastic strip Jebbadiah had given me. “He wanted you to have this,” I said, and Zeke turned. “He said you would know what to do with it.”

He took it gently, almost reverently, staring as he held it up. “Do you know what it is?” I asked after a moment.

“Yes.” Looking around the room, he hurried over to the desk in the opposite corner and shoved the plastic strip into a slot on the side of the computer. I was amazed that he knew how to use it, even more so when he fiddled around with the keyboard and pulled up several files on the screen.

“Yes,” Zeke muttered, blue eyes flickering across the screen. “This is all their research. All the information they had on the plague and the rabids and the virus. It lists everything—their methods, the tests they ran on the vampires, everything. If we can get this to Eden, there might be a real chance of finding a cure.” He sighed and yanked the strip out of the computer, raking a hand through his hair again. “If we can ever find it. We still have no idea where it is.”

I looked at the green board, the one with the dusty white letters scrawled across its surface, and the map on the other side. Frowning, I walked up and ripped the map from the board, narrowing my eyes. Cities had been circled and crossed out, notes scrawled along the edges in what was probably Jackal’s handwriting. But one place stood out, one area had been circled several times, a question mark hovering beside it.

“I think we do.”

Chapter 24

The Floating Pit was in full blazing glory when Zeke and I left Jackal’s tower, a huge fireball burning against the night. Several smaller fires burned around it as the wind carried live embers to empty rooftops and through shattered windows, setting them aflame. We met no resistance on our way down; the flooded streets and walkways were remarkably clear as we hurried through the city, all attention being diverted to the huge inferno that lit up the sky.

Zeke was silent as we fled Jackal’s tower, brooding and drawn into himself. In a single day, he’d lost a best friend and a father and was now expected to lead in Jeb’s place. I wished I could talk to him, but there’d be time for that later. Right now, we had to escape the city and get everyone to safety. If such a thing existed.

The Hunger still raged within, gnawing at my insides, urging me to pounce on the human in front of me and tear him open. Zeke’s blood had helped with the worst of the damage, but I was still starving. Worse, the sky over the buildings was growing lighter. The sun would be up soon, and we had to be clear of Jackal’s city before then or I’d be toast.

However, as we hurried along the bridges and catwalks, I realized we had another problem. The Floating Pit sat between us and our exit, and right now it was surrounded by a horde of Jackal’s men, not to mention the firestorm sweeping through the buildings around it.

“Where are the others?” I asked Zeke as we crouched inside a half-crumbled building, watching long streamers of fire snap in the wind. My vampire instincts were screaming at me to go the other direction, but the only way out was through that firestorm.

Next time, try burning your bridges
after
you’ve crossed them, Allison.

“They’re just over the bridge,” Zeke replied, observing the flames worriedly. “At least, that’s where I left them. I hope they’re still okay.”

“How did you get them out?”

Zeke pointed to the elevated tracks circling the district, passing, I noticed, right next to the theater. “We followed the tracks,” he said, sweeping his finger around. “It takes you right out of the city, like you said. Once we got to the barge, we sort of…hijacked one of the vans.” A shadow crossed his face, guilt that he’d had to kill yet again. “The others are waiting just outside the city,” he continued, “hidden, and safe. If we can get to them, we’re home free.”

“Well,” I muttered, turning back to the fire, feeling the heat from the flames, even here, “we’re going to have to get through that. Ready for another swim?”

Zeke nodded solemnly. “Lead the way.”

Entering the water, we swam through the flooded streets, passing between the burning buildings. The air was thick with smoke, and flaming rubble toppled into the waters around us, hissing as it struck the surface. I concentrated on moving forward, ignoring the canyons of fire around me, ignoring the Hunger that still cramped my stomach, and the warm body next to mine.

As we passed under a walkway, Zeke hanging a little behind, footsteps echoed above us, and a raider peered over the railing.

“You!” he shouted, pulling the gun from his belt. “I saw you in the Pit! You’re the bitch who set it on fire!”

A shot rang out, and pain exploded through my chest with a spray of blood. I heard Zeke cry out as the water closed over my head.

Anger and Hunger roared to life. I was sick of being shot, stabbed, burned, gutted, staked and thrown out windows. Snarling, I exploded back to the surface, grabbed the raider by the belt and dragged him over the edge. We hit the water with a splash and sank like a rock, the human thrashing frantically in my grip. He stiffened as I plunged my fangs into his throat and stopped moving by the time we hit the bottom.

I finished feeding and hesitated, tempted to leave him for the fishes and the worms. But Zeke would be waiting up top, and he had seen me pull the raider into the water. With a growl, I grabbed the limp body and struck back for the surface. He might still succumb to hypothermia and blood loss, but at least I wouldn’t leave him to drown.

Zeke gaped as I broke the surface, shaking water from my ears. “You’re alive,” he gasped, teeth chattering with cold. “But…you took a shot right to the chest. I was right there and I saw…”

“It takes a lot to kill me,” I muttered. “Well, scratch that. It takes a lot to kill me again. I’m already dead, remember?”

Swimming beneath the walkway, I heaved the raider’s limp body out of the water onto the edge of the platform. His head lolled to the side, revealing two oozing bite marks that I hadn’t sealed. Zeke’s gaze followed mine, and his face tightened, but he didn’t say anything.

I could feel him thinking, however, as we swam through the streets and finally reached the elevated tracks leading out of Jackal’s territory. Dripping, shivering, he followed me up the framework to the top, grabbing my hand as I pulled him onto the planks. An icy wind rushed along the surface, and I was struck by how miserable he looked, wounded, wet and freezing, with his hair and clothes plastered to his body. Yet his eyes still gleamed with iron determination as he gazed across the bridge, only looking forward. Unlike me, who turned and glanced back toward the city and the fires that raged through it.

So many gone. So many lives lost. People I had known, talked to. Dorothy, Darren, Jeb…I hadn’t been able to save them. I swallowed hard and rubbed my eyes. When had I started caring so much? Before Kanin Turned me, death was something I faced every day. People died, often; it was just how the world worked. I thought that, after the deaths of my old gang and Stick’s betrayal, I wouldn’t worry about anyone else. And yet, here I was, a vampire, wishing I could have saved the very person who hated me most.

“Allison.” Zeke’s voice made me turn around. He shivered in the cold wind but stood tall and unbowed at the edge of the tracks. “The sun is coming up,” he said, nodding to the tops of the buildings. “We have to get you and everyone else to shelter soon. Come on.”

I nodded and wordlessly followed him, sprinting down the tracks, over the bridge leading out of the city and into the ruins of Old Chicago, leaving Jackal’s territory behind to burn.

* * *

“
H
ELLO
,
OLD
FRIEND
,” Sarren crooned, bringing his scarred face very close, so that I could see the madness raging in his black eyes. “You can’t go to sleep yet, I’m afraid. What fun would that be? I have the whole night planned out.” He chuckled and stepped back, watching me hang limply from the chains. At least I was no longer upside down, though I suspected one of my arms was still broken. It was difficult to tell; my body had been broken, healed and systematically broken again; the only thing I was aware of now was the Hunger.

Sarren smiled. “Hungry, are you? I can’t imagine how that feels—it’s been four days. Oh, wait. Yes, I can. They used to starve us before an experiment, so we would attack whatever beast they put in our rooms. Did you know that?”

I did not answer. I had not spoken for the entire length of my captivity, and I would not begin now. Nothing I said would sway this madman; he was only looking for ways to torment me further, to break me. And I would not give him that, not as long as my mind was my own.

Tonight, however, he might torture me all he wanted; it would not come close to the pain that I had endured earlier, the visions of my two offspring killing each other far from my reach. Two children that I had failed.

Allison. Forgive me, I wish I could have prepared you better. What were the odds that you would meet your blood brother so far from your origins?

“You seem distracted tonight, old friend.” Sarren smiled and picked up a scalpel, holding it up to his face. His tongue flicked out, sliding along the surface. “Let us see if we can’t bring your mind back to where it’s supposed to be. I’ve heard blood tastes the best straight off the blade. Why don’t we see if that is true?”

I closed my eyes, preparing myself. I would not survive much longer; already I could feel my sanity slipping, succumbing to pain and madness. My only comfort was that at least Sarren had found me first, that I was taking the brunt of his hate, and that my offspring were safe from his demented clutches.

Then the blade found my skin, and all thoughts melted away and turned to pain.

* * *

“K
ANIN
!”

Sand flooded my mouth, clogging my nose and the back of my throat. Spitting and choking, I bolted upright, clawing through layers of dirt until I reached the surface.

Zeke rose quickly from where he sat against a half-buried rail. Bewildered, I gazed around, trying to remember where we were. A few yards away, waves rose and fell against a strip of white sand, making hissing noises as they returned to the lake. Behind us, Chicago’s ruined skyscrapers crowded the skyline, threatening to topple into the sand.

Pieces of the night came back to me. Zeke and I had found the others across the bridge where he’d left them, sitting in one of the very same vans used to kidnap them. With only minutes till sunrise, we had torn off down the streets, putting as much distance as we could between ourselves and the raiders, until we hit the coast. With nothing on my mind except getting out of the sun, I’d buried myself in the sand moments before the light peeked over the water and instantly blacked out.

“You all right?” Zeke asked, his hair whipping about in the wind. He looked stronger this evening, not quite as pale, wearing a heavier jacket over his tattered clothes. “More nightmares?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, though I knew it wasn’t a dream. It was Kanin. In trouble. “Where are the others?” I asked. “Are they all right?”

Zeke gestured to the building behind us, where the truck had been parked near the door, sand piling around its tires. Every so often, the wind scoured away the dusty coating, showing spots of pavement beneath. “Caleb is sick and Teresa sprained her ankle,” he replied, “but other than that, they seem fine. Healthwise, anyway. It’s amazing, really. That no one else was seriously hurt.”

A slender figure appeared in the doorway, watching Zeke and me. When she saw me gazing at her, however, she quickly vanished back inside.

“They’re afraid of me, aren’t they?”

Zeke sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “They’ve been taught their whole lives that vampires are predators and demons,” he said, not apologetic, or defensive, just matter-of-fact. “Yes. They’re afraid of you, despite everything I told them. And Ruth…”

“Hates me,” I finished, shrugging. “Not much of a change, there.”

“She kept insisting I dig up your body and kill you while you were sleeping.” Zeke frowned, shaking his head. “She even tried to get Jake to do it when I refused. We had to have…a talk.” His face fell, and he looked away. “She’s scared. They all are. After what they’ve been through, I don’t blame them. But she won’t get in your way or cause trouble,” he continued in a firm voice. “And the others have accepted that you’ll be traveling with us for now. You’re still coming, right? You’ll still see us there?”

“To Eden?” I shrugged again and looked away, toward the water, so I didn’t see his face. Looking at him would make it that much harder. “I don’t know, Zeke. I don’t think Eden is the type of place that will welcome someone like me.” Kanin’s face swam across my mind again, tortured and in agony. “And I have…something I have to do. Someone to find.”
I owe him that.

“They’ll be all right with you now.” I finally gave Zeke a sideways glance. “You can get them there. According to Jackal’s map, Eden isn’t far.”

“Forget the others then.” Zeke stepped toward me, not touching, but close. “
I’m
asking you. Please. Will you see us through the final stretch?”

I looked at him, at his pale, earnest face, at his blue eyes, quietly pleading, and felt my resolve crumble. Kanin needed me, but…Zeke needed me, too. I wanted to stay with him, despite knowing that this—whatever we had—would only end in tragedy. I was a vampire, and he was still very much human. Whatever my feelings, I couldn’t separate them from the Hunger. Being around Zeke put him in danger, and yet, I was willing to risk it, even his life, just to be close to him.

And that—that dependency—scared me more than anything I’d ever faced. Allie the Fringer knew all too well: the closer you got to someone, the more it would destroy you when they were inevitably gone.

But we’d come so far; it didn’t feel right, not seeing this through to the end. “All right,” I murmured, hoping Kanin could hang on a little longer.
I’ll be there soon, Kanin, I swear.
“To Eden, then. Let’s finish what we started.”

Zeke smiled, and I returned it. Together, we walked up the beach, to where the group waited for us in the shadow of the building.

* * *

S
EVEN
PEOPLE
HUDDLED
in the back of the van, silent, terrified. Two young adults, two older people and three kids, one who kept coughing and sniffling into his sleeve. Zeke drove, and I sat next to him in the passenger’s seat, gazing out the window. Nobody spoke much. I offered to switch seats once, to let someone else sit up front, but was met with horrified silence. Nobody wanted the vampire in the back with them. So Zeke and I remained up front, the weight of words unsaid lingering between us.

We drove east along the seemingly endless lake, following the road and Jackal’s map, keeping a wary eye on the city fading behind us. I kept glancing at the side mirrors, waiting for headlights to break over the road and come swarming toward us. It didn’t happen. The road remained dark and empty, the landscape silent except for the hiss of falling waves, as if we were the only people alive.