Ignis (Book 2, Pure Series) (54 page)

           
"If you're not a vampire, then why are you looking for one?"

           
"Like I said, he's my friend."

           
"If he's a vampire, won't he hurt you—or even kill you?"

           
"No, he's not like that."

           
"Would he hurt me, do you think?"

           
"No, I'm sure he wouldn't."

           
"You're a strange girl," the young woman said, looking me over.
 
She took a step closer and smiled at me.
 
"But I will help you."

           
"What is this place?" I asked.

           
"Lower your voice," the girl whispered, glancing down the street.
 
"There are a lot of dangerous people in here."

           
I followed her gaze.
 
A tall, thin man had appeared at the end of the street.
 
He was staring at us steadily.
 
Or rather, he seemed to be staring at me.

           
"Look here," the girl said.
 
"I don't have any shoes on.
 
You'd better come inside.
 
I'll get dressed properly, and then I'll help you find your friend."

           
I looked down.
 
Her tiny feet were indeed bare.
 
I glanced toward the man at the end of the street.
 
He seemed to have moved closer.

           
"Maybe we would be safer inside," I said.

           
The girl beckoned to me.
 
"Quickly now.
 
I don't like the look of that man over there."

           
I started forward, but stopped, startled, when the girl in front of me suddenly cried out and clapped a hand to her cheek as if she'd just been struck in the face.

           
A moment later, five razor-thin wounds opened on the girl's ivory skin, and blood began to run down her face.

           
"You stay away from my cousin!"

           
I turned.
 
Odette, her eyes bright with fury, was standing by my side.
 
My eyes were drawn to her right hand—her pale fingers were stained red.

           
"She's mine, Odette!" the girl screamed, still holding her bleeding face.
 
"I found her!
 
You go away!
 
Go hunt for yourself!"

           
"This one isn't for you," Odette said.
 
"And she isn't for anyone else in here either.
 
Touch her, and you'll have me to deal with."

           
The girl stared at Odette with hate-filled eyes, but took a step back.
 
She hurried into her house and slammed the door.

           
I glanced down the street toward the man who'd been staring at me.

           
The man had vanished.

           
I looked back at the closed door through which the golden-haired girl had disappeared.

           
"She was going to kill me, wasn't she?" I said.

           
"Yes," Odette replied shortly.

           
"Was she a vampire?"

           
"Yes," Odette said.
 
"And you are a fool."

           
She grabbed me by the wrist.
 
"You have got to get out of the street.
 
I can hold most of them off as individuals, but I can't fight them all if they attack in a pack—which they might do.
 
Food doesn't often wander so innocently into our midst."

           
Perhaps it was my imagination, but I thought I could feel the chill of Odette's hand all the way through my gloves.

           
She hauled me down several streets and into a tall stone tower.
 
I found myself standing in a small, round room with a few sticks of furniture and a wavering, sickly candle.
 
A staircase in the center of the room spiraled up into the darkness above.

           
Odette pushed on the metal door behind us, and it slid closed so heavily that the walls around us seemed to shake.

           
I realized I was shaking myself.
 
I wasn't afraid of Odette—at least not at the moment.
 
But the encounter with the golden-haired girl had left me shaken.
 
She had seemed so harmless that I had succumbed to her trap without feeling any suspicion at all.

           
If not for Odette, I probably would have been murdered tonight—and then I would have disappeared completely.

           
No one would even have known where to look for my body.

           
"Thank you, Odette," I said.

           
Odette glared at me.
 
"It should not have been necessary for me to rescue you."

           
"How did you know the girl was going to attack me?" I asked.

           
"I already told you she was a vampire."

           
"Yes, I know.
 
But she seemed so scared.
 
She actually seemed to be afraid of me."

           
Odette's lips curved into a smile, and there was a hint of admiration in her eyes.
 
"Very effective, isn't it?
 
That was Veronika, and that's the trick she plays on all her human victims.
 
She's really only got the one, but it's nearly one hundred percent effective.
 
No one expects a frightened girl to be a predator.
 
She acts like prey, and that sets the prey at ease.
 
I understand it's particularly effective on the males."

           
Odette tilted her head on one side.
 
"You need to learn not to be so trusting.
 
In any event, I don't need to know Veronika's favorite trick in order to know that she'll attack you.
 
Everyone here will attack you."

           
Odette sat down in a rickety chair.
 
"The question is—what are we going to do with you now?
 
I'm suddenly in the very awkward position of being responsible for you.
 
I've never been responsible for anything before.
 
Suppose you start by telling me what you're doing here?"

           
"Where
are
we?" I asked.

           
"You are in the village," Odette replied.
 
"Zamochit Village—and we have only one type of citizen here.
 
I'll give you one guess as to what it is."

           
A fresh wave of panic washed over me.
 
"So, I am in a village entirely populated by—"

           
"Vampires.
 
Yes.
 
You are familiar with the term 'zamochit,' are you not?
 
It's a recent term, as far as we are concerned, and it refers to completely breaking a body—just as our souls are broken."

           
"How did I get here?" I asked.

           
"I believe I just asked you that myself," Odette replied.

           
"I was walking—no—running across the Wasteland," I said.
 
"And then I felt the air around me ripple—or shimmer—or something like that.
 
And suddenly I was standing on a street full of houses, rather than in an empty field.
 
I don't have any idea what happened."

           
"There's a barrier around Zamochit Village—a supernatural one," Odette said.
 
"You aren't supposed to be able to cross it—no non-vampire is.
 
Some of us—like me—have special gifts—certain advanced abilities.
 
Vampires like that created the barrier.
 
And there's another one in the Pure Woods—it surrounds the original vampire community in this area.
 
But the original community was much smaller and the vampire population eventually overflowed its boundaries.
 
So, the village was built here.
 
Humans don't like the Wasteland anyway, so they tend to avoid it.
 
And the charm of the barrier hides the village from sight and confuses the humans, warding them off if they do wander out here.
 
They just keep walking around the perimeter of the village—never realizing that there's a huge swath of the Wasteland that they can't cross."

           
"It certainly fooled me," I said.

           
"Now tell me," Odette said sharply.
 
"What were you doing out in the Wasteland?
 
I thought I told you to go home before you got killed."

           
I hesitated.
 
Would Odette help me to find William?
 
Or would she force me to leave?

           
"I'll tell you what you're doing here," Odette said when I didn't reply.
 
"You came out here looking for Timofei Mstislav, didn't you?
 
I already told you that you can't fight a creature like that.
 
All you can do is run."

           
Odette stood suddenly and seized me by the arm.
 
"You're going home right now."

           
"Odette, wait!" I cried.
 
"I saw William.
 
I was following him.
 
That's how I ended up in here."

           
Odette released me.
 
"William Sursur?
 
The one who's up at the castle?
 
The one everyone makes such a fuss over?"

           
"Yes, William Sursur," I said eagerly.

           
Odette tapped her chin.
 
"He came for you in the crypt that night, didn't he?"
 
She stared at me for a long moment, and something stirred in her eyes.

           
"I'll take you to him," Odette said at last.

           
"You can really do that?" I asked.

           
"Yes, I can."
 
Odette sat down again.
 
"But I'll have to think of a way to get you safely through the village to the castle.
 
Getting you out would have been comparatively easy—we're close to the border here, though it still wouldn't have been trouble-free.
 
But getting you in deeper will be more difficult.
 
Some of the creatures that live here are little more than animals.
 
If we took to the streets to get to the castle, they would eventually be on us in a swarm.
 
They'd tear you to pieces."

           
I began to feel weak with fear.
 
I sank into a rickety chair next to Odette.

           
There was a crash and a cry from the floor above us, and I heard heavy footsteps walking overhead.
 
I jumped out of my chair and stared up into the darkness above the spiraling staircase.

           
"What was that?" I asked.
 
"What's up there, Odette?"

           
"That's the border watch," Odette said absent-mindedly.
 
"He's nothing to worry about.
 
He probably just fell out of his chair."

           
"The border watch?" I said.
 
"Is he a vampire?"

           
"Of course."

           
The footsteps subsided, but I continued to stare upward.
 
I was expecting an angry vampire to come crashing down the stairs at any moment.

           
"You can relax," Odette said.
 
"That's just Hadrian."

           
"Hadrian?"

           
"Yes.
 
He's not a very effective guard—that's why I knew we'd be safe in here."

           
"What is Hadrian guarding exactly?" I asked.

           
Odette sighed.
 
"I thought I told you—he's guarding the border—allegedly.
 
There are three other watchtowers similar to this one in the village.
 
They're set close to points at which the supernatural barrier meets the unenchanted Wasteland.
 
Hadrian is supposed to watch the border in case someone like you manages to get past the barrier.
 
He's supposed to detain the intruder and alert the authorities.
 
But intruders are rare, and Hadrian is usually drunk, or sleeping—or both—so very little actual watching goes on."