Vampires!
My fight-or-flight instinct is urging me to get the hell out, but I can't leave Vivi. They'd feed on her for days, maybe weeks, before letting her finally die—or worse, turning her into a monster like them. I can't lose her, not after my parents, not after Brady. I'd rather risk my life protecting her than add to the memories that already haunt me. I quickly stand, getting in front of my best friend. But before I can get my stake out, one of them grabs my shoulder and throws me toward the center of the trolley. I land sprawled over one of the hard benches that face the windows. I see Vivi sliding down to the floor like her muscles and bones have turned into jelly. I have to believe she's safer under the seat and with all their attention focused on me.
One of the vamps lunges for me, but I kick him back so hard he smashes into one of the tiny windows and it shatters.
My adrenaline rushes through me. No matter what happens next it'll all be a blur. I won't even think. Just act. Let my training and instinct take over. That's the only way I'll get out of this alive. If I let myself think, I'll panic.
I yank out my stake and scramble to my feet. I waste no time going after the nearest one. If I can kill one of them, it might be enough to scare off the others. The odds aren't in my favor, and the desire to run overwhelms me, but I stay strong. I'm Vivi's only chance.
The conductor reaches out to grab my neck and I make a stab for his heart, but he twists around too fast and the stake cuts deep into his arm. He gives a horrific howl. When he reaches for his wound, I fall back on a nearby seat and kick straight up, catching him under the chin, sending him flying back onto a bench.
I dodge past the two who are down. My target is the one who is kneeling, reaching beneath the seat, clawing desperately at Vivi. If I can just get the stake into him—
From behind me, one of them kicks the back of my knee and I go down. The floor comes up too fast for me to brace myself, and my forehead does all the work, taking the brunt of the impact, smashing into the hard surface with a thunderclap that echoes around me. By a miracle I remain conscious.
The attacker grabs my ankle and pulls me across the floor. He spins me over and straddles me, putting all his weight on my hips. The others start gathering around. At least Vivi is safe for the moment. I grip my stake, ready to stab the vamp on top of me, when he leans down for my neck. I see the bloodlust in his feral eyes. His ugly face is thin and scarred, and his fangs are frighteningly large.
His mouth opens wide, ready for the plunge, when one of the other vamps releases a bloodcurdling shriek. From the floor, the only thing I see is him disappearing through the rear door. Another scream echoes from outside. Then deafening silence.
I feel a spark of hope. Maybe a night patrol has arrived to help us. But we're not out of danger yet.
The vampire on me has grown still, too distracted by his accomplice's cries, maybe too confused or scared to finish me off. This is my chance. I imagine him as no different from the dummies I practice staking in school. Using every ounce of strength, I ram the metal stake into him. But because of the angle, I miss his heart. He jumps off me, my weapon still in him. He's groaning in pain, but still very much undead. And worse, he's taken my best weapon from me. But I still have my fists, my training, and, more important, my will to stay alive. I stand up too quickly and pain explodes through my head, reminding me without mercy of the fall I just took. The edge of my vision darkens.
I hear another scream and suddenly only two vampires are in the trolley. With both vamps distracted, gazes darting between each other and the door, I try to get to Vivi. Somehow I have to get her off this trolley. But my body refuses my commands. I'm frozen in place when a stranger steps onto the trolley. It's too dark to make out the details, only that he's dressed in black, blends in with the night. He's not wearing a balaclava or the Night Watchmen's medallion, but since he's already quickly dispensed with two vamps, I have to assume he's one of the city's elite. Off duty, maybe.
Out of desperation, the uninjured vamp attacks the stranger, but he slumps over quickly, a stake through his chest; I don't have time to register how it happened. I can't find my strength, and my vision is fuzzy, the image in front of me turning black. The last vampire left yanks my stake from his chest. Before I can react, he wrenches me in front of him and holds the stake up to my throat.
"Don't come any closer," he says, his voice high-pitched with fear. "I'll kill her."
But the stranger just takes another step, and I feel the point of the stake pressing against my neck. Maybe the stranger doesn't care. Maybe he's not a knight in shining armor.
"I mean it! I'll…" But the vampire doesn't finish his sentence. The stranger moves quickly. It's probably the result of the blow to the head I took, but he becomes almost a blur, leaping over the seats, yanking the vampireaway from me. I sink to the floor. I hear a distant scream, a gurgle. Then nothing.
I want to sleep, but I force myself to fend off the fog in my brain. I begin slowly crawling toward Vivi. The stranger is suddenly standing over me. He lifts me up with amazing strength. For a heartbeat that seems to last an eternity, I'm mesmerized by his presence. He looks to be a little older than I am. His long black hair hangs to just below his strong jaw and falls in a way that makes his blue eyes stand out from the shadows.
Suddenly he shakes his head as though he, too, had been caught up in something he didn't understand. He releases his hold on me and steps back. "Come on," he says, his voice calm, serious. "I'll get your friend. You follow me. Others will be on their way."
He edges past me, our bodies brushing, creating an awareness that baffles me. I register the firmness of his muscles, his power. He maneuvers Vivi out from beneath the seat and lifts her into his arms as though she were a small child. He turns around and steps out of the trolley. I'm still in shock. I give myself a mental and physical shake. I have to follow Vivi. I hop off the trolley.
"Who are you?" I demand to know.
"Later. This way," he says, taking us out of the narrow passage and onto the main street.
I hear things: the thumping of vampires above us, moving from building to building. Their shadows dance in front of us, monstrous in size, so close to the lights that hang down.
"How many are there?" I ask.
"I don't know," he says. "But I can't take them all."
The fight I just endured takes its final toll and I stumble. I fall to one knee, curse, push myself up. The stranger shifts Vivi, draping her over his shoulder. Then he grabs my hand and we begin running.
We rush down a dark alleyway that I'm convinced is safe only because he leads us. A sharp turn and then another, and we're in the deep corridors of the city. Tall, bricked walls like mazes hide the old parts, the blocks and buildings that stood erect before the war.
Here," he says, stopping in front of an old abandoned movie theater.
The stranger, with Vivi still hanging over one shoulder, pulls out a key and undoes the padlock. The chains it held fall and coil onto the ground like great metal snakes. He swings the door open and ushers me inside. It's dark in there, but what choice do I have? This stranger risked his life for us, and in this moment, I have to trust him.
The stranger comes in behind me and hands me the key. "Bring in the chains and lock things up from this side."
I do as he says, hints of outside light allowing me to work in this dark entryway. When I turn around, he's already walking away, a tiny flashlight suddenly illuminating an eerie path.
"We're safe in here," he says.
Slipping the key into my jeans pocket for now, I follow him down a hall and up a narrow flight of stairs. He opens a door. I hear a click, and a small room is flooded with light. He eases Vivi down onto a cot. He feels her brow, checks her breathing. I tell him quickly about the party, how someone spiked her drink.
"She'll be fine," he says. "Probably won't remember any of this tomorrow, which might be for the best. She just needs to sleep it off. As long as we keep her cool, there's nothing to worry about."
Taking in the surroundings, I can see that the room is well maintained despite the theater being so ancient. Shelves hold metal canisters that are unfamiliar to me. Posters line the walls, old and nostalgic, not printed today but from days gone by. Some weird machine that looks like a giant camera sits on a table, staring out a small window in the wall.
"Where are we?" I ask.
"The projection room," he says.
"A what?"
"They used to project movies onto a screen from here." He gestures to the machine.
"Oh." There aren't any working movie theaters anymore. They're just relics like this one. I might enjoy exploring it if I weren't shaking so badly. The adrenaline has subsided and left me with a terrible feeling of anxiety, as if all the danger I was in is only now registering. I keep seeing the vampire standing over me, Vivi sprawled on the floor, me helpless to do anything about it. I was completely at their mercy. A lot of good all my training did. When faced with the reality of a vampire attack, I was pretty incompetent.
Will I be as inept tomorrow night, when I'm tested by Valentine? Will I fail to protect the citizens?
"You're trembling," he says. "Here, this'll help." He opens a small refrigerator, reaches in, then tosses me a can.
I stare at it. Carbonated drinks are rare. Expensive. "Where did you get this?"
"Found a stash in a storeroom. You scavenge around, you can find all kinds of treasures."
He doesn't look like a scavenger. His black jeans and sweater aren't frayed and worn. He has too much confidence. I'm trying to trust him. He hasn't given me any reason not to, but still… I shake it off. Vivi's right. Since my parents were killed, I tend to get paranoid. "I'm sorry, but I don't even know your name."
"Victor. Drink up." As though to encourage me, he opens a can for himself. I hear the hiss of carbonation being released. I watch his throat muscles work as he takes a long drink. It reminds me that my throat—and Vivi's—are unmarked by fangs because of him.
"Thanks, Victor. I owe you. I can't imagine what those vampires would've done if you hadn't come along."
"Sure, you can," he says. "You are Dawn Montgomery, after all."
My heart leaps in my chest. "Is that why you saved me? Because I'm the city's delegate?"
"I wasn't sure until just now, when I saw you in the light," Victor says. "All I knew was that two girls were in danger and I acted. It's that simple."
"Not so simple. You were really good. Are you a Night Watchman?"
"Not in this lifetime," he says. "Just a guy who happened to be at the right place at the right time."
Yeah, right. Night Watchmen are notoriously discreet. They don't boast. They don't swap stories. The fear is that if they're identified, vampires might try to take them out. Or Lord Valentine will request an audience with them. He doesn't approve of the elite group of vampire hunters, fearing that if they grow in number they might try to dethrone him. "Well, whatever you are, thanks again.
Victor simply shrugs and nods toward my can, still unopened. I pop the top, hear the fizz, and take a sip. It's so good! The sugar hits my system. It doesn't seem like it should, but it does calm me. I hadn't realized how shaken I was. Almost turning into a late-night snack will do that to a girl.Victor arranges two chairs near the bed. I sink onto one and he drops onto the other.
"The Agency's going to kill me," I say.
"They don't have to find out," he says. "I'll take you home as soon as it's safe again."
"Did the vampires chase us the whole way here?"
"I think we managed to elude them once we hit the alleyways. They've been getting desperate lately. It used to be one, maybe two vamps roaming the streets. But now they're traveling in packs, getting bolder."
"Well, I'll talk to Lord Valentine about that tomorrow," I say, feeling a swell of pride in my chest for the first time since I became a delegate. Maybe I'm just trying to impress Victor, since I failed so miserably on the trolley.
"I've heard Valentine is a tough vampire to deal with," he says.
"He's … intimidating. And clever. I don't trust him. Tomorrow night will be the first time I face him alone. That's why I went to this stupid party in the first place. I just wanted to have some fun and forget all my responsibilities for a while."
"Not sure I agree with your choice of playground." He gives me a wry grin, and I feel my cheeks warming with embarrassment.
"Yeah, that was pretty stupid. I just… I don't know. Sometimes I just wish everything was different."
"Can't blame you for that, I guess. When the VampHu Treaty was signed I'm not sure anyone expected the vampires to be quite so controlling."
I shrug. The Vampire Human Treaty shackled us to these cities, imposed our quarantine. I've read the VampHu Treaty, all six hundred pages. I've memorized the key laws; I can recite the preamble by heart. Part of the job description. And part of the legacy my father left me. He was a vampire historian, a leader in a very young field. It gave him an uncanny understanding of vampires that made him excel as an intelligence officer during the war, and integral to the peace negotiations afterward. He even wrote portions of the treaty. Which has made our family name, Montgomery, a household one. For better or worse. Probably the reason Valentine eventually asked for him as a delegate.
All I can say now is, "They won."
"I'm not sure they really did. So many are starving for blood." He shakes his head. "Sorry. I hate politics. Just seems like there has to be a better way for us all to live together. Guess that's where you come in. I can't believe they selected someone so young to serve as a delegate."
"No one can, but Valentine requested me. And what he wants, he gets."
"Brutal."
"Yeah. But at least I'm following in the footsteps of my parents."
"I'm sorry they were killed."
It's strange. While the whole city knew my parents were murdered, most people don't mention it. And truthfully, I prefer it that way. It's definitely better than the mechanical condolences I get from people I barely know who feel obligated to say something. But the way Victor said it—I could tell he meant it. And, for whatever reason, that opens up the hurt I desperately try to keep at bay. Tears sting my eyes. The whole horrible night seems to be pressing in on me. "Can we talk about something else? Like you, maybe. Who are you?"