The Eternity Cure (45 page)

The Prince looked up at Kanin, his gaze searching. I saw him putting the pieces together. Kanin, terminally sick when we left the Inner City. Who should be dead by now, or at least, a rotted corpse. “And you are certain this will work on both human and vampire?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kanin said without hesitation.

“And Sar ren?”

“Gone.” Kanin didn’t give any explanation. “The old hospital in Sector Two is where he made his lair, and the virus. If you care to search it, that is. Now…” He narrowed his gaze, staring the Prince down. “We’ve done what you asked, and found a cure for your city. Will you honor your end of the bargain and let us go?”

Salazar didn’t answer right away. Walking to his desk, he scribbled a quick note on a piece of paper, then pressed a buzzer on the surface of the wood. A few moments later a guard entered the room and hurried to his side.

“Take this to Dr. Emerson in the subhospital,” Salazar said, handing the note and the syringe full of blood to the guard. “Tell him it is
vitally
important that he start work on this right away. That it takes precedence over every one of his other projects. And if that somehow becomes lost between this office and the basement, you will spend the rest of your short life wishing you were never born.”

The guard paled. Clutching the syringe and the note in a death grip, he jerked a hasty bow and immediately left the room. Salazar watched the door click behind him, and turned back to us.

“Kanin.” The look the Prince gave the other Master was not friendly. “This will not atone for your crimes. Nothing you do will ever erase what you have caused. I should kill you where you stand, and make your offspring watch, so that she will fully appreciate the depth of your treachery.”

I tensed, my hand itching to draw my weapon. Kanin didn’t move, so I forced myself to relax. But if Salazar decided to double-cross us again, I hoped he was prepared for a fight. I was certainly not going to stand there and watch Kanin be killed in front of me. What Sarren did to Salazar’s last office would be nothing compared to what I would do to this one.

The Prince and Kanin stared at each other for another long, brittle moment, before Salazar turned away with a sigh. “However,” he said, as though the very word was poison to him, “I am a man of my word, and you have done what I have requested. Therefore, I will honor my agreement. You are free to go…as soon as I am certain the cure will work.”

“And when will that be?” Kanin asked softly.

“Soon.” The Prince made a vague gesture. “Tomorrow night, if we are lucky. Until then, you will remain here as my guests. If you need anything, my pets will attend you. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” The Prince turned his back on us in blatant dismissal, walking to the window again. “I have a city to put back together.”

“Well,” I ventured as we left Salazar’s office, stepping back into the long hallway. I glanced over at Kanin, Zeke and Jackal, and shrugged. “What now?”

Jackal rolled his eyes and stepped away from us. “What now is that I am going to relax for a few hours without listening to the lot of you whine at me. ‘Ohhh, don’t hurt the humans, ohhh, we have to save refugees from mole men, ohhh, Kanin is dying.’ Ugh.” He made a disgusted gesture with both hands. “It’s enough to make me puke. I am going to the bar to get this taste out of my mouth. You all can do whatever you want.”

And with that, the former raider king spun on a heel and marched off down the hall. Kanin watched him leave and shook his head.

“Kanin? What about you?”

My sire gave me a tired smile. “I will be in my room, taking advantage of the Prince’s hospitality, behind a locked door.”

“Avoiding the other vampires, you mean.”

“Precisely. And I would encourage the both of you to do the same. The Prince might have granted us amnesty, but the other vampires will not look kindly on your association with me. It is best that we lie low until we can leave New Covington for good.”

Leave New Covington. Where would we go now? I wondered as the three of us wandered back down to the guest floor. I hadn’t really thought about it until now. Before, my whole focus had been on finding Kanin, and then the whole mess with Sarren. Now that I’d found him, where did we go from here?

“Ezekiel,” Kanin said, surprising me. We’d stopped in front of a door much like the one to my guest suite; this room was either Kanin’s or Zeke’s, I guessed. Zeke glanced back at the vampire, questioning, and Kanin lowered his voice.

“May I speak with you a moment? Alone?”

Zeke blinked, frowning a bit. “Uh, sure. Allie?” He looked at me. “Do you mind?”

Stung, I glanced at Kanin. Why would he want to talk to Zeke and not me? Wasn’t I his “offspring”? Wasn’t I the one who’d come all this way to find him? “Why?” I challenged. “Are you two going to talk about me, is that it?”

“Allison.” Kanin had reverted to his annoyed-mentor voice, which only made me bristle.

“Fine.” I stepped back, glaring at them both. Hurt and irritation made me want to stubbornly stay put, but I knew it was useless with Kanin. “You two have fun with your boy talk. I’ll be in my room.”

“Allie,” Zeke said, but I turned and walked down the hall, and didn’t stop until I’d reached my door.

Inside the suite, a middle-aged human woman was stocking the fridge with fresh blood bags from a cooler. She jerked up when I came in. “Oh, excuse me, ma’am!” she exclaimed, grabbing the cooler and hurrying out of the kitchen. “I’ve restocked your fridge, per the Prince’s orders, and if you leave any dirty clothes on the floor, I’ll be sure to wash and return them before tomorrow evening. There are extra outfits in the closet and the dresser by the bed.”

“Um…thank you,” I replied warily, and she bobbed as she backed toward the exit, keeping her gaze on the floor. More perks of living in a vampire tower, I supposed. I bet it was pretty easy to get used to this, if you didn’t mind keeping slaves and ruling through fear. And that your hired help got eaten once in a while.

“Oh, and Mr. Stephen said to make sure you got your book,” the human said in the door frame, making me jerk around, narrowing my eyes. She pointed to the nightstand by the bed. “He said to tell you not to forget it.”

I strode to the nightstand, ignoring the human as she quickly shut the door. My mom’s book sat beneath the lamp, the simple children’s story she’d read to me countless times. Why would Stick leave it here? He hated me. I saw a slip of paper sticking out of the top and pulled it out, recognizing Stick’s thin, loopy handwriting immediately.

Allie,

This is yours. I was going to burn it, but I want you to have it instead, because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here now.

—Stephen

I crumpled the note in my fist, tossing it to the floor. I knew Stick well enough to know that he hadn’t left this here to be nice or to apologize for the way things had turned out. It was just another jab in this stupid, imaginary war he thought we were in. He was able to become the Prince’s aide because he could read. Because I had taught him.

Whatever. I wasn’t going to let him ruin the memory of my mom. And I would be gone from this place soon enough, never to see him again. Shrugging off my coat, I folded it and placed it and the book on the dresser so I wouldn’t forget them. Stripping out of my torn, dirty shirt and jeans, I headed into the bathroom.

After a long shower, I left my filthy clothes in a heap on the floor, changed into the dark pants and shirt in the closet— did every vampire in this place wear black?—and poured a bag of cold blood into a mug on the counter. There was probably a way the city vamps warmed up their blood—surely the Prince didn’t drink it cold every night—but I had no idea how they did it, so I forced it down as it was. I wasn’t worried about it being poisoned this time. With Zeke’s blood, I was effectively vaccinated against Sarren’s plague.

I sobered a little, thinking of Zeke. What were he and Kanin discussing? Why the big secret? There had to be a reason Kanin didn’t want me to hear what they were talking about. Maybe it was about me. Maybe he was trying to convince Zeke of the foolishness of being with a vampire, since he’d written me off as a stubborn lost cause who didn’t listen or follow his rules.

Dammit, now I had to know. There was no reason either of them should be talking about something without me, not after everything we’d been through. Unless it
was
about me, of course, which made me even more determined to find out what they were saying. Kanin wouldn’t tell me, but I’d bet I could get Zeke to talk. And if he and Kanin were still in the room, they would just have to let me in on the secret, because I wasn’t leaving until they did.

There were still a few hours till dawn. Finishing the last of the cold blood, I rose, grabbed my katana from where it lay on a chair and went looking for Zeke.

The hallways were empty of vampires as I made my way to the room where I’d left them. A couple humans scurried around, carrying mops and cleaning supplies. I didn’t see anyone else until I neared the room and a furtive movement caught my attention.

It was Stick, without his guards for once. He hovered in the shadows, trying to be inconspicuous, looking like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to walk up and knock on the door.

My suspicion flared. I stalked forward with a growl, but Stick spotted me, went pale and fled down the corridor. Sprinting around a corner, he vanished from sight. I considered going after him, forcing him to talk, but he’d probably run straight to the Prince or his guards, and it wasn’t worth the hassle.

Instead, I went to the door and knocked firmly on the wood, listening for familiar voices. If they were still talking, too bad. I wasn’t leaving. They would just have to tell me what was going on.

But when Zeke opened the door a few seconds later, there was no sign of Kanin in the room beyond. For a moment, I was disappointed—I wanted to know what they were talking about.

But then, I realized it was just me and Zeke. Alone. And suddenly, I was glad Kanin wasn’t around.

“Allie.” Zeke seemed surprised to see me, though not unhappy about it. He had showered, too, judging from his damp blond hair and clean clothes. He looked good in black, I thought, noting the way his shirt clung to his chest and biceps. The vest had concealed how muscular he really was. “I didn’t expect to see you again tonight,” he continued, stepping back to let me in. “Is something wrong?”

I shook my head, moving past him into the room. It was much like mine: a single bed, a bathroom, a small kitchenette. A plate sat on a small round table, the remains of real food scattered around it, vegetables, bread, the skin of a potato. I was amazed. Salazar’s luxuries extended even to our sole human.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” I told him, turning back. “I…just had a question, that’s all.”

Zeke smiled. “Let me guess.” He shut and locked the door behind us, then turned back with a half amused, half resigned look. “You want to know what Kanin and I were talking about earlier, without you.”

I shrugged. “Well?” I asked, not bothering to deny it. “What
were
you talking about?”

Zeke walked across the floor, coming to stand just a few feet away. “And, what would you do if I said I couldn’t tell you right now?”

“That’s easy.” I grinned at him, setting my katana sheath on the table. “I’ll just have to beat it out of you.”

His eyebrows arched, and a challenging gleam entered his eyes. “Is that so, vampire girl?” he asked, smiling and crossing his arms. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Okay, but you asked for it.”

I lunged. He caught me around the waist as I crashed into him, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely. No barriers anymore, no doubts, no Kanin or Jackal nearby, watching and judging. It was just us, alone, both knowing what we wanted. I slid my hands into his damp hair, pressing myself to him, and he hugged me close, his lips warm on mine. I felt the hard muscles through his shirt as we locked ourselves together, the beat of his heart against my chest. The Hunger roared up, even though it had been fed just minutes before, a now-familiar ache.

His scent and warmth surrounded me, heady and intoxicating. Unable to stop myself, my fangs lengthened, sliding out of my gum, as he bent to kiss my neck, murmuring my name. I wanted him. I wanted to feel that rush of heat and life flowing through my veins. I wanted to taste him again, drink in that essence, stifle the monster raging inside.

Dropping my head, I pressed my lips to the hollow at Zeke’s throat, feeling heat and pulse and life beat there, right below the skin. So close. All I’d have to do was part my lips just slightly, bite down just a little, and that warmth would fill me again.

Zeke’s arms tightened around my waist, and a shiver went through him. But before I could draw away, before I could feel horrified with myself, he very deliberately tilted his head back, baring his throat. And my world froze.

He would let me, I realized. Zeke would let me bite him, feed from him. Even now, with my fangs so close to his neck, my lips at his throat, he was calm. Waiting. My eyes stung with the understanding. He had truly accepted what being with a vampire meant. Everything.

My fangs slid back, retracting once more, and I gently kissed the pulse at his neck…before reaching up and bringing his face down to mine again. I could feel his surprise as our lips touched. He had been expecting me to bite him, bracing for it. But, as I was slowly discovering, I could be more human around Zeke. He somehow reached that tiny sliver of humanity buried within the monster, and it had reached out for him, as well.

We kissed for several intense minutes, until Zeke drew back, his gaze fervent. I watched him, loving the rings of silver around his pupils when he was this close, the way his hair fell over his forehead. “Come with me to Eden,” he whispered, never taking his eyes from my face. I gave him an exasperated smile.

“You’re going to keep asking me until I say yes, aren’t you?”

“Please,” Zeke added quietly, holding me tighter. “Say yes. Kanin and I already talked about it—he’s going, as well. That’s what we were discussing earlier. He just didn’t want his decision to affect yours in any way. But you’re coming too, right?” His hand slipped into my hair, running it through his fingers. “I can’t… I won’t go without you, Allie. Please. Come to Eden with us.”