The Immortal Rules (17 page)

His head lolled to the side, and his eyes stared ahead, unseeing and glassy. He was dead.

No.
I put both hands to my mouth, shaking so hard I thought I would puke. It had happened, just like Kanin had said it would. I had killed someone. I had murdered a human being. The second I’d tasted blood, the demon had taken over, and I’d lost my mind. I’d lost control to the Hunger. And in those mad few heartbeats, with the blood flowing hot in my mouth and through my veins, I had loved every second of it.

“Oh, God,” I whispered, staring at the body, the corpse that, a few minutes ago, had been a living, breathing being. I’d killed him. I’d
killed
him. What did I do now?

An agonized groan interrupted me. I looked fearfully to where the other human lay sprawled on the pavement, gazing up at the sky. He was breathing in short, panicked gasps, and his eyes widened as I stood and walked toward him.

“You!” he gasped. His legs twitched as he tried to get up. Blood seeped from his chest, where he’d taken a bullet meant for me. He didn’t have long, even I could see that. But he didn’t seem to notice, staring up at me with glazed eyes. “Didn’t know…you were a vampire.”

The man gagged, blood spilling out of his mouth, running down to the pavement. His blank stare cut me like a thousand knives. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say. But that only seemed to push him over the edge, for he started to laugh.

“Sorry,” he repeated, as his head lolled to the side. “Vampire kills my mate, then says she’s sorry.” He collapsed into uncontrollable giggles, choking on his own blood. “This is…a joke, right?” he whispered, as his eyes rolled up in his head. “A vampire…joke? Jackal…would’ve…laughed…”

He didn’t move again.

I might’ve stayed there, kneeling in the cold grass, the smell of blood clogging my nose and mouth, except the sky over the hills was lightening, and my internal clock warned me dawn wasn’t far away. For a moment, I wondered what it would be like if I just…stayed aboveground. Met the sun, as Kanin once said. Would it burn me to ash? Would it take very long, be very painful? I wondered what lay beyond; I’d never been very religious, but I’d always believed vampires had no souls, and no one knew what happened to them when they finally left the world. It didn’t seem possible that I, a monster and a demon, could ever have a shot at heaven or eternity or whatever happened when humans died. If such a thing existed.

But if heaven existed, then so did…the other place.

Shuddering, I crawled into the grass and burrowed deep into the earth, feeling it close around me like a grave. I might be a demon and a coward, and I might deserve to burn, but in the end, I didn’t want to die. Even if it damned me to hell, I would always choose to live.

Though, for the first time since the attack that terrible night in the ruins, I wished Kanin hadn’t saved me, after all.

Chapter 11

The bodies were still there, stiff and waxy, when I rose the next evening. They had already attracted a flock of crows and other carrion birds. I shooed the scavengers away and, feeling it was the least I could do, dragged the bodies off the road into the tall grass, leaving them to nature. The vehicles they’d been driving had run out of fuel or electricity or whatever powered them, for their lights were dead, and they were cold and still. I wondered if I could’ve ridden one of them, but I’d never driven anything in my life, and the machines seemed very complicated even if they still worked. So I left them sitting on the side of the road as I continued my journey to wherever I was going.

Another night or two passed with no distractions. I walked through towns and settlements, all dead, all overgrown and empty. I came upon several crossroads, where other roads stretched away in opposite directions until they were lost to the darkness, but I kept to the road I was walking. I became used to the silence, the emptiness and the vastness of the sky above. The stars were my only constant companions, though I did see deer and small animals and herds of shaggy horned beasts roaming the plains. When the sun threatened the horizon, I burrowed into the earth and slept, only to rise and repeat the same thing the following night. Everything I did became habit: rise, shake the dirt out, face the same direction as the night before and walk. I didn’t think of the city. Or Kanin. Or anything behind me on the road. Instead, I occupied myself with what I might find over the next rise, the next hill. I sometimes imagined a distant city, sparkling with lights, or the glow of a vehicle, coming toward me. Or even the silhouette of another traveler, walking toward me in the darkness. Of course, nothing like that ever appeared; no lights, no vehicles, no humans. Only empty flatlands and the skeletons of what had been houses or farms. The encounter with the two men seemed a hazy, half-remembered dream, something that hadn’t really happened to me, as it soon felt as if I was the only person left in the entire world.

I didn’t run into any rabids, which was surprising at first. I’d been expecting to fight my way past at least a few by now. But maybe rabids only hung around cities and towns where their human prey would be. Or perhaps, like the bear, they didn’t bother hunting vampires. Maybe their prey had to be alive and breathing to catch their attention.

Maybe they thought vampires were just like them.

Finally the road took me through another dead town. It was much like the few others I’d seen—empty and overgrown, buildings crumbling to rubble, abandoned cars rotting in the streets. As I passed the remains of an old gas station, I wondered if it had already been raided for food and supplies. Then I realized I didn’t need to check, which I found ironic and a little sad. The old Allie would’ve seen a place like that as a potential treasure trove. Old buildings, abandoned stores, empty gas stations—there were a ton of supplies out here just waiting to be scavenged. I didn’t need food or water or any of that anymore. The only thing I needed was the one thing that wasn’t here.

I sighed, just for the hell of it, and continued into the town.

As I passed a tree growing through the hood of a car, I caught a faint rustle in the grass and a quiet whimper. Not an animal noise, either. This sounded human.

I paused. It had been four days since the…incident…with the men on the road. Was I still a danger to humans? Could I control myself in the presence of my prey? The Hunger seemed sated for now, held in check, but I’d still have to be very careful.

The sound came again. Wary of rabid wildlife, I drew my sword and eased around the car, ready to slash at anything that came flying out of the weeds. When I saw what was hiding behind the tree, however, I relaxed.

A small, frightened face gasped and recoiled, wide-eyed, tears streaking his cheeks. He had dark hair, smudged, dirty skin, and was probably no more than six years old.

A kid? What’s a kid doing way out here, alone?

Still wary, I lowered my sword. The child sniffled and gazed up at me, teary-eyed but silent. I looked for wounds on his small body, bite marks or scratches, but he was clean. There wasn’t any blood, though he was frightfully thin, a trait that was all too common where I came from. “W-who are you?” he sniffled, pressing himself against the trunk. “I don’t know you. You’re a stranger.”

“It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you.” Sheathing the blade, I knelt beside the kid, holding out my hand. “Where do you live?” I asked gently, stunned that someone would let a child roam around these streets at night. Did they
want
him eaten by rabids? “Where’s your mom and dad?”

“I d-don’t live here,” he whispered, hiccuping with the effort not to cry. “I don’t h-have a mom or a dad. I live with e-everyone, but now I can’t find them!”

He wasn’t making much sense, and the last sentence had finally dissolved into a frightened wail, setting my teeth on edge. We’d never get anywhere like this, and his howling could attract rabid animals at the least. They might ignore me, but if they sensed this child, we’d have a problem.

“It’s okay,” I said quickly as the child stuffed his small fist into his mouth. “It’s all right, we’ll find everyone else. There are other people here, right? In the town?”

He nodded. “They were looking for food and stuff,” he said, pointing a grubby finger in an indiscriminate direction. “Over there, I think. I had to go potty, but when I came back they were gone.”

So, hopefully, they’d be close. Whoever
they
were. Probably an aunt or a relative or something, since the kid didn’t have any parents. His bottom lip trembled, and I scrubbed my eyes. “Let’s go look for them,” I said, standing up. “Come on. I’m sure they’re looking for you, too.”

What?
The Fringer street rat in me recoiled, aghast.
What are you doing, Allison? You don’t know this kid. Why are you getting involved?

I ignored the voice. What was I supposed to do? I certainly couldn’t leave a child out here alone. Not even I was that callous. I’d drop him off with his parents or guardians or whomever, and then…

I repressed a shiver. When was the next time I might run into humans? If I returned this child to his guardians, they would probably be relieved. They might ask me inside, offer to let me spend the night. It would be easy enough, while they were sleeping, to slip up beside them, to…

Horrified, I shut those thoughts away. But what could I do? I was a vampire, and if I didn’t keep the Hunger in check, I would revert to that snarling, mindless creature on the road. If I had to feed, at least it would be on my terms now. “Well,” I asked the boy, holding out my hand, “are you coming or not?”

The kid brightened. Standing up, he reached for my hand and clung tightly to my fingers as I led him away. He didn’t cry or even sniffle as we wove through dark alleys, between rotting buildings, and around smashed, rusty cars. Either he was too frightened to say anything, or he was used to walking around scary, unfamiliar places in the middle of the night.

“What’s your name?” he asked as we made our way down another sidewalk, stepping over glass and fallen streetlights. He seemed calm now, relieved to be in the presence of a grown-up, even if she was a stranger.

“Allison,” I muttered back, scanning the darkness and shadows for any signs of movement, human or otherwise. A gray fox glanced up from where it scavenged along a wall and darted into the weeds, but other than that the night was still.

“I’m Caleb.”

I nodded and turned down another road, finding the edge of what was once a plaza. Moss covered the remains of benches along the cracked sidewalks, and the stone fountain in the center of the square was dry and crumbling to gravel. Leaves crunched under our feet as we followed one of the paths past a gazebo with a fallen roof, toward the other edge of the plaza.

Suddenly, I paused, pulling Caleb to a halt. Behind us, amid the broken wreckage of the gazebo, I heard the quiet thump of a heartbeat.

“Why are we stopping?” whispered Caleb.

“Turn around,” said a voice, somehow, impossibly, at my back. “Slowly.”

Still keeping a tight grip on Caleb’s hand, I turned.

A human stood behind us, a few yards from the gazebo. He was lean, a few inches taller than me, with blond hair, and his eyes—a bright, piercing blue—never left my face.

Neither did the barrel of the pistol trained on my head.

“Zee!” Caleb cried and rushed forward. I let him go, and he hurled himself at the stranger, who bent down, hugged the child to his neck and stood. All without taking his eyes, or his gun, off me.

“Hey, rug rat,” he murmured, speaking to Caleb but still watching me intently. “
You
are in a ton of trouble, little man. Your sister and I have been looking everywhere for you.” His eyes narrowed. “Who’s your friend?”

“Caleb!”

A scream interrupted him, and a slender, dark-haired girl of maybe sixteen rushed up to us, holding out her hands. “Caleb! Oh, thank God! You found him!” She took the child from “Zee,” hugged him tightly, and set him on the ground to glower at him. “Where did you go? You scared us all to death, wandering off like that! Don’t ever,
ever
do that again, do you understand?”

“Ruth,” the blond boy said quietly, still keeping me in his sights. “We have company.”

The girl’s head jerked up, her eyes widening when she saw me. “Who…?”

“That’s Allison,” Caleb chirped, turning to smile at me. I smiled back, but my gaze was still on the boy with the gun. “She helped me find you when I was lost.”

“Is that so?” The boy frowned, shifting forward to put himself between me and his charges. “And what is she doing out here, wandering the town all alone in the middle of the night?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” the girl, Ruth, added, glaring at me over the boy’s shoulder. “And just what were you planning to do with my brother?” she demanded—very brave, I thought, for someone hiding behind a gun. “Who are you, anyway?”

I ignored her, knowing the boy was the one I’d have to convince. He watched me calmly, blue eyes taking in my every move. Now that I saw him clearly, I realized he was probably no older than me, with dusty jeans, a tattered jacket, and jagged blond hair that fell into his eyes. He returned my smirk with the unmistakable air of someone who knew how to handle himself. But maybe that was due to the weapons he was carrying. Besides the gun, still pointed at me, he wore a hatchet on one hip, a dagger on the other, and a strap across his chest, the hilt of a machete poking up behind his shoulder. I had no doubt he had a couple other weapons hidden somewhere, a knife in his boot or up his sleeve. I also suspected he knew how to use each and every one of them. A small silver cross dangled from a chain around his neck, glimmering against his ragged shirt.

His eyes flicked to the hilt over my shoulder, then to my waist, looking for weapons. I kept very still, wondering if I could reach him and yank the pistol away without getting shot in the face. If it came to that. The strange boy seemed wary but not openly hostile. I suspected he didn’t want a fight, and I didn’t, either. Not after…

I shoved that memory down and focused on the humans, still eyeing me cautiously. “So, are you going to shoot me?” I asked after we spent a moment sizing each other up. “Or are we going to stand around looking at each other all night?”

“Depends,” the boy said with an easy smile, not lowering the gun. “Who are you? There aren’t many people who go wandering around at night with the rabids. And you’re not from around here, I know that much. Where did you come from?”

“New Covington.”

He frowned, not recognizing the same. “One of the vampire cities,” I elaborated without thinking better of it.

Ruth gasped. “A vampire city! Zeke, come on!” She tugged at his sleeve. “We should get back to the others, warn them!” Her dark glare stabbed at me behind his arm. “She could be one of those pets Jeb told us about! She could be out hunting for new blood slaves.”

“I’m not a pet,” I snapped at her. “And pets don’t bother hunting for blood slaves—they let the raiding parties do that. Do you see anyone else around here?”

The boy, Zeke, hesitated, shaking off Ruth’s arm. “If you came from a vampire city, what are you doing here?” he asked in a reasonable voice.

“I left.” I raised my chin and stared him down defiantly. “I got tired of being hunted, of watching the vamps do whatever they want to us, because we’re just animals to them. Better to take my chances outside the Wall and free than stay in the city as a slave to some bloodsucker. So I got out. And I’m never going back. If you want to shoot me for that, you go right ahead. It’s better than what I left behind.”

The boy blinked and seemed about to say something, when Caleb let out a soft cry and rushed forward, hitting his leg.

“Don’t shoot her, Zee!” Caleb ordered as the boy flinched, more in surprise than pain. “She’s nice! She helped me find you.” He pounded the leg again with his small fists. “If you shoot her, I’ll be mad at you forever. Leave her alone!”

“Ow. Okay, okay. I won’t shoot her.” Zeke winced and lowered his pistol, as Ruth grabbed Caleb by the arm, dragging him away. “I wasn’t going to, anyway.” He sighed and sheathed the gun in a back holster, turning to me with a resigned shrug. “Sorry about that. We were all freaking out when we couldn’t find the rug rat, and we don’t run into many people out here. I didn’t mean to scare you.”