Almost Everything (7 page)

“Um …” What had I come here to tell him, again? I found myself backing toward the door with every word. “Prince Luis wants a bride, or a groom, or whatever you call a partner in that marriage treaty thing. Confarreatio? Anyway, he brought his army to Wisconsin, and my mom is planning something also … uh, maybe.”

Wow. All that had somehow seemed so much more critical when Elias had suggested I had to come here. Now it seemed kind of stupid, and with all the eyes on me, I really wished I hadn’t agreed to this, especially given my dad’s reaction—

He laughed.

And, frankly, his laugh didn’t sound very sane either. It was the sort of cackle a movie supervillain might utter, only scarier. The sound startled a few bats who took to the air with a screech.

Worse, whenever I turned my attention back to the courtiers, they seemed to have sneaked closer by an inch or two, like cats stalking prey.

“It was very kind of you to come with this news, child,” my father said, though it didn’t sound as if he meant a word of it. In fact, he didn’t even seem interested. He brushed an imaginary speck from his naked shoulder, as if brushing off the collar of a coat.

What was
wrong with him? So we hadn’t exactly been best friends since the whole exile scene, and, okay, I totally smacked him down when I destroyed the talisman, but he was behaving really unhinged. When he first appeared on my doorstep, he seemed totally normal—like a proper dad. I still kind of held out a sliver of hope that we might, you know, get to know each other better and be less estranged. But now he acted just plain strange.

His eyes, in particular, seemed focused on something just out of reach. Was the hunger hitting him worse than the others?

I glanced over my shoulder. The vampires were definitely closing in, forming a circle around me.

“Perhaps you would like to stay for dinner?”

I shook my head. I took a step back, and nearly collided with a female vamp. I ducked before she could seize my shoulders. “You don’t mean that,” I said, scanning the closing ranks, desperately looking for an opening. My heart pounded with fear. I felt my body beginning to change, just as I saw the vampires around me doing the same. First, my fangs elongated. They stretched through my gums with a familiar ache. My perception shifted as my pupils went cat-slit. All around me I saw the reflective glitter of gold and green irises.

“Please, Ana, don’t go,” my dad said somewhere behind me. My eyes stayed glued to the closer threats. “We’re dying to have you.”

D
ying to have me? Seriously? That old joke? Hunger must make Dad not only mean but also stupid.

“Are you trying to be funny? Are you seriously calling the hunt on me?”

He
snorted, as if I’d suggested something ridiculous. “Don’t be silly—we don’t eat our own kind. We might tear you limb from limb for a light snack, perhaps, though. …”

“You are really, really sick, Dad,” I said, not bothering to look at him. Instead, I continued to search for an out.

When I spotted a vampire I thought I could take, I didn’t wait for Dad’s response. I rushed forward with a wild shout. The vampire in question instinctively moved out of the way to avoid my aggressive move. I’d picked him because his expression hadn’t seemed nearly as inhumanly hungry as the rest, and, well, he just looked like he might dodge instead of counterattack. It seemed I’d gambled right for once.

I found
myself on the back side of the circle. Luckily, they’d all moved in tightly, so there was room to dash for the door. But could I make it? I mentally steeled myself as I ran by, pretending this whole moment had already been blocked out on the stage and we were all just doing our bit in some grand play.

I tried not to feel hands grabbing for me. I could see the mouth of the cave. Just a few more steps …

And I’d have to deal with the sentry. Having heard the commotion inside, he was ready for me. Using a broken broomstick as a weapon, he smacked me expertly across the shoulder. I let the force of the blow knock me down, and I rolled into the narrow stream. I was going to be bruised tomorrow and my jeans were completely soaked, but for the moment I was more afraid of what would happen if I were caught.

I stumbled a bit recovering from the roll, but I mostly kept my momentum. The dumbstruck sentry, however, was a perfect obstacle for the vampires spilling out of the cave. In fact, from the sounds behind me, some of them seemed to have decided he made a fine substitute for a meal.

Resisting the temptation to look behind me, I kept running. It had been a lot slower going in because my eyes had to adjust to the dim-to-no light. With my body in vampire mode, I could run without hesitation. Rats scurried along the wall, squealing their protest, but I outpaced them easily.

My heart pounded in fear more than in exertion. Transformed, I could run for miles without breaking a sweat. But I could run only so fast. My now more sensitive ears picked up the sounds of fleet footfalls gaining on me.
Don’t look,
I told myself. Seeing how close they were would only make me stumble. Focus on feet. Move. Hadn’t Elias said they’d be in a weakened state? How far to the entrance?

I hoped
that the sun was rising and that it was the bright, clear, hot day the meteorologist promised on the news last night. I actually didn’t know exactly what happened to vampires in the sunlight, but I knew Elias couldn’t stand it.

The ground leveled out when I reached the railroad tunnel, and I was able to pick up a little speed. Unfortunately, my advantage was also the vampires’. I swore I could feel breath on my neck, and the hem of my jeans snagged on something. Hands? Teeth? I didn’t want to know, nor was I going to check. I kept my eyes on the prize, which was, literally, the light at the end of the tunnel.

I was almost there. The biggest hurdle now was the fence, which I had had to shimmy under to get in. Dropping down to wiggle through seemed like a recipe for getting grabbed. How was I going to do this fast? Was there another way?

I could feel myself slowing down as I anticipated the problem. Someone got a hold of my ankle. My foot slipped through the grasp, but it was too late. I could feel myself falling. I wasn’t quite close enough to slide underneath, baseball-style, but I did manage to hurl myself close enough that I was able to grab the links of the chain and hold on tight. Hands closed around my legs and started to pull. I heaved myself in the other direction with all the strength of desperation.

Teeth grazed my jeans, and I started kicking. Someone grunted in pain as my sneaker connected to a jaw or teeth; I wasn’t sure which. But I took advantage of the moment and dragged myself under. Of course, to do this while still holding on to the fence, I had to twist around. For the first time since I started running, I was face-to-face with the seething mass of pale flesh grasping hungrily at me. I was glad I hadn’t given in to my earlier impulses, because the shocking sight of the naked, twisting forms just about caused me to lose my stranglehold on the fence. I screamed despite myself.

When
one of the vamps managed to puncture the cloth of my Converses, I realized that giving in to that panic had cost me precious time and breath. I redoubled my efforts to pull myself the rest of the way through the fence. My shoe came loose. I pulled myself upright and then scampered with one stocking foot for the shaft of sunlight that had slanted into the tunnel.

I’d been
so
smart up to this point that I can’t quite tell you why, but when I reached the outside, I stopped and turned around. Maybe I just felt as if I’d made it to gool, base, safe. Or perhaps I was just curious to see the effect of sun on vampires. I leaned against the mouth of the tunnel to catch my breath and watch.

I think I was hoping for something spectacular—bodies bursting into flame or instantly crumbling to dust. At the very least, I thought they’d … stop.

To be fair, most of them did halt just at the edge of where light cut the darkness. But many more than I would have liked barreled right out into the morning sun. A woman managed to tackle me before I could get over my surprise enough to make an escape. I landed hard on the tracks with her full weight on top of me.

The wind was knocked from my lungs, and, as I gasped for breath, I had a close-up view of her face. The sun definitely had an effect on her.

She looked
like a corpse.

I mean, technically, that was what they all were—sort of. As I’d said, a vampire had explained the process to me, and it involved human sacrifices who were taken over by the entity—the vampire—brought by the witches’ talisman from beyond the Veil. The original human body didn’t die, but that person was gone, overcome, emptied.

I could see the truth of that with the daylight on her face. Her eyes looked glassy and dead. There was a gray cast to her skin.

The sight shocked me so much that, at first, I forgot to fight. In those few precious seconds, the other vampires who had ventured out came to her aid. She leaped off my chest and grabbed the waist of my jeans, clearly intending to haul me back inside the lip of the cave. Someone had my feet again. My head bumped on the ties and gravel as I was being inched closer to the hungry horde waiting in the shadows.

I started flailing and screaming. My fingers scrabbled painfully as I grasped for the steel rail or anything. Where were the police when you needed them? Or even a helpful passerby?

But it turned out I didn’t need either. Without warning, the woman let go. She clutched her own stomach instead. Her body was shaking violently, and then she lost it.

She puked all over.

And what came up was blood.

It splashed my
one remaining shoe, my socks, and everything. I jumped back, suddenly able to find my feet because the other vampires either rushed to help her or were similarly afflicted.

Blood was everywhere.

I stumbled and slid in the gore, but I managed to get to my feet. Then I ran. Oh my God, I ran. The sunlight had sapped all of my vampire superpowers, but I didn’t need them. Horror compelled me forward. I just wanted to get away—very, very far.

My own stomach threatened to rebel at the odor that seemed to cling to me. The copper tang of blood was heavy and everywhere, but there was also something in the stink that smelled rotten and spoiled, like meat left out too long.

My sock squelched on the pavement, leaving a bloody footprint. I hazarded a glance over my shoulder. There were no vampire pursuers or pukers. …

I slowed to a trot and looked back at the cave. There was no sign of anyone, only a dark stain on the tracks that was easy to mistake for an oil spill. Hunching over, I breathed hard. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. Tears stung my eyes. My dad nearly had me killed. Holy crap. I hardly knew what to think of all that. He said they wouldn’t eat their own kind, but I wasn’t sure he had much control of his people anymore.

Despite the heat, shivers racked my body.

This was awful. I had to fix this somehow. Even though they’d acted like beasts, these weren’t total strangers. I’d never really made friends with any vampire other than Elias, but I felt a certain kinship with them—you know, like the people at school you pass in the hall.

At least
I hadn’t recognized anyone at court tonight. But what if that meant those vampires had broken from the hunger, left the kingdom, and become nosferatu?

My stomach lurched again, and I clutched at it. Clenching my teeth, I willed myself not to barf. How could my dad let this happen? Was he truly insane?

Though it was still early, a few cars sped by, heading into downtown offices. How was I going to get home? I couldn’t take the bus looking like this. Besides, I was sure there was a “no shoes,” or in my case, single shoe, “no service” policy. And, of course, everything below the knee of my jeans was covered in blood—not exactly inconspicuous.

It was moments like these that I wished I had a regular boyfriend. It would be really nice if I could call someone who would ride to my rescue.

I supposed I could try to wake up Bea. She’d come, no hesitation. But I would have to endure a barrage of questions I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer, not the least of which was, “Why the heck even go there in the first place?”

My stomach twisted at the thought of recounting the scene I’d just endured. Bea already fell firmly in the witch camp. I doubted her impression of vampires would improve after I explained the chasing and barfing.

Right now I really needed someone who would understand how I felt, even though I myself wasn’t entirely sure what that was. I was extremely mad at my father, but I was scared for him too. I couldn’t believe he could turn on his own daughter. At the same time, it had seemed clear to me that the hunger had screwed him over something fierce. I couldn’t blame him—not entirely.

I pulled
out my phone and looked at the time. It was just a few minutes past five. My fingers punched the area code for Bea’s house, but then they stopped. Snapping the phone shut, I crammed it back into my filthy jeans.

She would just tell me I’d been naive and that I should expect animalistic behavior from vampires. She might even say something stupid about how much better off we’d all be if I hadn’t destroyed the talisman and the vampires were under witch control and slaves again. Then I’d have to hate her. Plus, I had to start considering future car karma too. I’d owe Bea one seriously inconvenient ride at a ridiculously early hour. I sighed. It wouldn’t take me that long to hoof it, or limp it, as the case might be. I should just cowboy-up and walk, even though it was uphill the whole way.

Besides, I told myself that I was really enjoying the fresh air after the dank of the cave. Sure, my heart wasn’t racing a mile a minute, and my stomach wasn’t still churning with bile. This was lovely. Yeah, I believed that.

The bottom of my bloody sock started to collect sidewalk grit. I stopped to lean against a lamppost to pull it off. While I was at it, I stripped off my Converse and sock from the other foot. First garbage can I found, I was going to toss them in.