Dominion of the Damned (32 page)

Hannah grinned. “Wait till
I
get
you
home.”

The conference room doors opened. As they broke apart Hannah tried to stifle her smile. A red-headed vampire stepped out and said, “They’re ready for you.” When they both stood up, she glanced at Hannah and looked pointedly at Alek. “Just you.” She went back inside.

Alek looked at her apologetically. “This probably won’t take long.”

“
I’ll be fine out here.” She smoothed out his jacket and straightened his tie. “Here,” she said, wiping a smudge of lip gloss off his face with her thumb. “Okay.”

He smiled at her, a smile that said everything in his life really was okay, at least in that moment. Then he went inside and closed the door.

Hannah sat back on the bench to wait. At the other end of the hall, a door opened, and someone in an orange jumpsuit came through, pushing a broom. Hannah knew her. She pulled the letter she’d written out of her purse and stood up. “Louise!”

The older woman stopped pushing her broom as Hannah ran toward her, looking up with no hint of recognition. “Do I know you?”

“
I was a prisoner here,” said Hannah. “You checked me in and showed me around.”

“
Oh, right.” Louise nodded as though it was coming back to her. “You were on the doctor’s list.” She looked Hannah up and down. “You look pretty good for someone who’s been experimented on.”

“
That’s because I haven’t. Everything you’ve heard about Dr. Konstantin’s camp is a lie.” She figured if the cat was already out of the bag, it couldn’t hurt to let everyone know. Maybe it would give them some hope to cling to. “He’s trying to help.”

“
Help? How?”

Hannah pointed back at the conference room. “Right now he’s in there trying to convince them to change the way they do things here. That they don’t have to treat us like slaves.”

Louise’s laugh had a bitter edge. “Like that’ll happen.”

Hannah didn’t bother to argue. She knew it wouldn’t do any good. They would just have to see for themselves, once Alek succeeded. She held out the envelope. “Will you please give this to Phyllis for me?”

“
Phyllis? Which one is she?”

“
I never learned her last name,” Hannah admitted. “She’s tall and skinny, with really short hair. She talks a lot. She was on the janitorial staff.”

“
Jewish girl?”

“
Yeah.”

Louise looked down at the envelope and shook her head. “She’s dead.”

Hannah stood there, still holding out the envelope, and stared at Louise. “What?”

“
There was a riot,” said Louise. “Damn fools tried to stage some kind of uprising. But it didn’t faze the vampires none. All they had to do was open the doors.” Her face twisted into a mask of anger. “They let them in. Those sons of bitches let the zeds in.”

Slowly, Hannah lowered her arm, crumpling the envelope in her fist.

“
Those of us that made it back to our cells in time were the only ones that made it. Then we just had to wait it out while the vampires cleaned up the mess.”

“
I’m sorry,” Hannah said, her voice thin and hollow. She didn’t know what else to say.

“
Yeah, well, don’t be sorry you made it out of here. Or else you might have joined your friend.” Louise went back to her sweeping. Hannah just stood there, staring down at her letter, the elation she’d felt moments ago with Alek already a distant memory.

Behind her, the doors opened and closed. Alek came out alone. He didn’t look at her. She could tell by the way he just stood there that something was wrong. Then he spun and kicked the bench so hard it almost came unbolted from the floor. “What’s wrong?” Hannah asked, hurrying toward him.

“
They want to shut us down.” He was so tense he practically vibrated with fury. “They’ve ordered me to turn all of the human residents at the base over to Esme. It seems a portion of her population was lost in a riot, and now her production is down. They want to make it up with
our
people. That’s what this entire thing has been about.” Again, he kicked the bench.

Hannah flinched. “They didn’t just get killed in a
riot
.” She pointed back at Louise. “She told me. Esme
fed
them to the shamblers.” Angry tears burned her eyes. She swatted at one as it escaped down her cheek. “Phyllis is dead.”

Alek looked at her. “Your friend?”

She nodded, glumly. “What are we going to do?”

He looked down the hall at Louise, then glanced at the conference room door. “Not here.” He took her hand and led her back the way they’d come. On the way, he pulled a walkie-talkie from his pocket and made a call to Captain Burell. They waited for him on the roof, and only when the chopper approached, the beat of its blades providing a sound buffer between them and prying ears, did Alek lean down to her ear. “We fight.” He pulled back to look at her. “Right?”

“
We take her down,” said Hannah.

Alek gazed at her as the chopper landed, blowing her hair in her face. He pushed it out of her eyes, and nodded. “We take them all down.”

He squeezed her hand, and it felt like some of his strength and conviction transferred into her with the gesture. As she climbed into the chopper, Hannah knew she was ready for this war.

FORTY-ONE

It started raining before they landed. As a bolt of lightning lit up the interior of the helicopter, Hannah jumped with fright and said a prayer that they wouldn’t experience another crash. “How long until we land?” she asked.

“
We’re close,” said the Captain. “Don’t worry. I’ve flown in worse conditions than this.”

That didn’t do anything to ease the tension she felt. Only when they were safely on the ground did she unclench her fists from the straps that held her in her seat.

Zach met them at the landing site with umbrellas, although with the wind picking up the umbrella he was using didn’t seem to be doing him much good. “How’d it go?” he asked as they climbed out of the chopper.

“
Not good.” Hannah took one of the umbrellas and struggled to open it against the wind. “They want to shut us down.”

“
What? When?”

“
If Esme had her way,” said Alek, “they’d already be here. But we’re in luck. The hubris of the elders gives us time to plan. They expect us to surrender. They think we have no choice.”

“
Do we?” asked Zach.

Alek’s only answer was to clench his jaw. “I need you to gather everyone,” he said. “Emergency town hall meeting in the auditorium in one hour. I don’t care if people are already in bed, get them up.”

Zach nodded. “I’m on it.” Without another word, he headed off to sound the alarm.

Alek turned to Hannah and the Captain. “We need to arm everyone. We should gather weapons. Automatic weapons, machine guns, rocket launchers… things that can damage them so badly it will take a lot of time to recover. We’ll pass them out at the meeting, and you’ll have all day tomorrow to make sure everyone knows how to use them. Look for bayonets, too. Knives, anything that can pierce the heart or cut off heads. And grenades.”

“
Alek, are you sure about this?” asked Hannah. “You’re talking about killing your own people.”

“
You
are my people,” he said. “Everyone here, you’re my family. And I’m going to protect you, or at least make damn certain you can protect yourselves. Besides, they’re the ones who declared war on us.”

Hannah nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s get to the armory. I’ll meet you guys there. I need to go change out of this dress.”

An hour later, they were assembled in the same auditorium where only hours earlier they’d held the memorial service. The same faces filled the seats, now a mix of sleepy, confused, and curious, where before they had been somber and sad. The weapons they had gathered lay piled on the stage behind them.

Paula was one of the last to enter, carrying a sleeping Noah. Chris came in behind her, and found seats for them as she came down to the front. “Zach wanted me to tell you that he’s working. He thinks he’s too close to stop now. He set up a temporary lab in the basement of the old jail house. He said he thinks he’ll be hidden well enough down there to keep working until they find him and make him stop.”

Alek nodded. “Thank you, Paula.”

Hannah reached out to smooth Noah’s hair. “How is he?”

“
He’s great. We played until he was tuckered out. This little angel can sleep through anything, it seems.”

Hannah smiled. “Paula, tomorrow night I want you to take him and get underground with Zach. Just stay hidden, and keep him safe.”

“
Why? I wish somebody would tell me what’s going on.”

“
We’re about to,” said Alek. “If you take your seat, we’ll get started.” As she headed to her seat, he raised his hands and called everyone to attention. “I know you’re all wondering why we got you out of bed and insisted that you come here tonight,” he said. “As you know, earlier this evening I was summoned to a meeting with the vampire High Council. These are the rulers of my race, and the ones who decide what happens with the camps. What happens with
you
.”

“
What did they want?” asked someone from the crowd.

He paused, taking a deep breath before saying, “They want to shut down this camp, and my research, and ship all of you to the local prison.”

The auditorium erupted with cries and shouts of protest, people hurling questions and angry epithets at Alek. He tried to call them to order, to no avail. Finally, Hannah had enough. She hopped up on the stage next to the big pile of weapons. “Hey!” she screamed. When that didn’t get their attention, she took out her weapon and fired a shot at the ceiling, causing acoustic tile to rain down on the stage.

That got their attention.

“
You people know Alek,” she said. “You know everything he’s done for you. Do you really think he’s going to let this happen?
Listen
to him!” She looked down at him, and nodded.

He gave her a look of appreciation, with a touch of admiration, before turning back to the crowd. “They’ll send forces tomorrow night to shut us down and transport everyone to the prison. They’ll most likely arrive shortly after sundown. They’re going to expect us to cooperate and come quietly. They won’t be expecting us to fight, but that’s what we’re prepared to do. The question is, will you fight with us?”

A hush fell over the auditorium. After a moment, Chris spoke up. “How do we fight vampires? You guys are, like, invincible.”

“
We’re hard to kill,” Alek admitted. “But if it were impossible to kill us, we wouldn’t have been gathered here for a memorial earlier tonight. Stab us in the heart, cut off our heads, blow us to pieces or burn us and we die just like anyone else. Bullets don’t kill us, but they slow us down, and a
lot
of bullets can stop us, at least temporarily. It takes time to heal from multiple wounds. Time, and blood. And they’ll have strict orders not to kill or feed on any of you. That gives us an advantage."

Another murmur went through the auditorium as people took a moment to talk it over. Alek gave them a minute, then hopped up on the stage with Hannah. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “Everyone who is willing and able to fight will spend tomorrow getting comfortable with these weapons. Then we’ll hole up in the old fort. All we’ll have to do is hold them off until sunrise.”

“
But then what?” asked Paula. “Won’t they just regroup and come back with a bigger force?”

“
Maybe,” admitted Alek. “Or maybe they’ll decide we’re not worth the trouble, and leave us alone. Maybe they’ll be willing to listen to terms. Or maybe—hopefully—Zach and I will be able to complete the vaccine before they return again, and then we won’t be confined to the base.”

“
Maybe,” said Paula. “But what if they decide we’re not worth the trouble, and so they should just kill us all?”

“
Then we take as many of them with us as we can,” said Alek. “Look, this is not my decision. I’ve never imposed my will on you, and I’m not going to start now. If you’d rather surrender peacefully and go to Esme’s camp, you still have that option.”

“
To hell with that,” shouted Chris, and Paula nodded in agreement as other voices shouted their assent.

"All right, then,” said Alek. “We’ve got approximately sixteen hours to get ready. I want those with military training to pair up with civilians and go over weapons and combat maneuvers. Hannah also has weapons training, so you can ask her if you need help with shooting. Anyone who has strategic training or experience, with me.”

As people began to pair up, Alek turned to Hannah. “I guess we’re really doing this.”

“
Are you sure you’re all right with this?”

“
Yes. I just hope I’m not leading them all to slaughter.”