"Jackal," I whispered, as the tall, lean vampire sauntered toward me. I remembered when I'd seen him last, the selfdeclared Prince of a flooded raider city, its residents as dangerous and ruthless as himself. He had gone through a lot of trouble to capture the humans I'd traveled with, three years of searching the roads, of having his men comb the countryside. And once Jackal had found them, he hadn't been above sacrificing them, one by one, to get what he wanted. Zeke and I had managed to rescue our group from Jackal's demented clutches, but several had died in the process, and the pain of that failure to save them still haunted me.
Why was Jackal here now? The last I'd seen of him, he had been shoved out of a thirty-story window-after, I remembered quite clearly, he'd jammed a wooden stake into my stomach. I didn't have fond memories of the raider king, and I knew Jackal wasn't terribly happy with me, either.
Then the implication hit me like a brick in the chest, and I stared at him in horror. Kanin was our sire, having Turned the both of us. The raider king was my "blood brother," and blood called to blood. No wonder there had been two pulls. If Jackal was here, then he was the presence I'd been following. Not Kanin. Not Sarren. I'd chosen to track the wrong lead.
I gripped my sword so hard the hilt bit into my palm, and I would've snarled in frustration had Jackal not been twenty feet away. Who knew how far Sarren had extended his lead now? Months of searching, of trying to close the gap and find my sire, all for nothing! The psychotic vampire still had him and could be on the other side of the world for all I knew.
And here I was, trapped in this house with my brother, who probably wanted to kill me.
"I've been waiting for you, sister." Jackal smiled as he approached, fangs gleaming. His duster billowed behind him, and I caught a glint of metal beneath. "You took your sweet time, didn't you? And after the Prince of Old D.C. told all the guards and house staff to hide in the basement to let you through, just in case you were Hungry, you still had to skulk through the house like a common burglar. Didn't it seem a bit odd, not running into anyone?"
Now I did snarl at him, baring my fangs. "What are you doing here, Jackal?"
"Visiting the Prince," Jackal said mildly, and shrugged. "Waiting for you." He continued to grin at me, smug and dangerous. "Oh, what's the matter, sister? Did you not expect me? Were you hoping to run into someone else?"
"I was, actually," I shot back, and took a step forward, raising my sword. "But I'll take care of you before I go looking for him again. Let's get on with it."
"Let's not," said a low voice, and a new presence entered the room, closing the door behind her. A tall, statuesque woman gazed down at me with large black eyes. Full red lips stood out sharply against her dusky skin, and her hair floated around her face like a dark cloud. "If you and Jackal are going to fight," she said in a throaty voice, "then wait until tonight and do it outside. I'd rather not have you throwing each other around and breaking furniture."
"Azura." Jackal smiled, waving a hand at me. "This is my lovely little sister."
"I gathered that," the vampiress said, not returning the smile. To me, she said, "Please put your weapon away. If you are going to remain in my house, you will do so on civil terms. I would hate to have you thrown out to face the sun."
I felt trapped, staring them down. Two vampires, one of whom was still a Prince and probably a Master. I was all too happy to fight Jackal again, but I doubted I could take them both. The female had that same calm, cool air of another vampire I knew, another Master, and I could feel the power in that deceitfully slender form.
I sheathed my blade cautiously, still keeping a wary eye on Jackal, who looked far too pleased with this whole situation. "What's going on?"
"Azura is an old...acquaintance of mine," Jackal said, shooting the vampire woman a sultry look. Other than a raised eyebrow, she did not respond. "I thought, since I was passing through, I would her pay a visit. Of course, once I sensed you coming, I thought I'd stick around and wait for you."
"If you're looking for a fight, I'll be glad to give you one."
"Trust me, sister. Nothing would make me happier." Jackal bared his fangs in an evil grin, and I tensed, ready to draw my sword again. "I would love to tear the head from your neck and stick it on the wall outside, but I promised Azura I would behave." He jerked his head at the vampire woman, who continued to watch us both with detached amusement. "Besides," Jackal continued, "I thought you might be interested to know what I discovered about Kanin and Sarren."
That threw me. I narrowed my eyes, staring him down. "How do you know about that?"
"Oh, come on." Jackal crossed his arms. "You're not the only one looking for our dear sire. Kanin and I need to have a little talk, but that freak Sarren is making it difficult. Did you actually come here looking for them?" He shook his head, either in admiration or disgust. "What would you have done if it had been Sarren you stumbled onto, and not me? You think you're a match for him, little sister? He would have turned you inside out."
"So what are you doing?" I challenged. "Hiding out here, hoping Sarren gets bored or tired of tormenting Kanin? Don't want to take on Sarren yourself?"
"Damn straight," Jackal returned with a flash of fangs. "I'm not going after that psycho unless I have to. You think I'm bad?" He snorted and shook his head. "You haven't seen anything until you've met crazy Sarren. And you sure as hell won't be able to take him on alone. Not even Kanin wanted to cross paths with him. He'll completely destroy you."
I blinked, startled at the underlying fear in Jackal's voice. It sounded like he had run into Sarren before, as well, or maybe Kanin had simply warned him about Psycho Vamp and his eternal vendetta. Whatever the reason, hearing Jackal's warning made me even more reluctant to face Sarren and more desperate to get Kanin away from him.
"Listen to your brother," Azura broke in, startling me. "He is correct. We all have heard of Sarren and his cruelty, his ruthlessness, his brilliance even through his madness. When I heard that he was in the city, I ordered my humans to not leave the house even during the day, and ran the fence continuously until I was certain he was gone."
Damn. Even the Master vampire, the Prince of this city, was scared of Sarren. How strong was he, really? Or was he just an unpredictable nut job that no one wanted around, spouting creepy poetry and making everyone nervous?
Somehow, I doubted it. Sarren was cunning and dangerous enough to capture Kanin, the strongest vampire I knew. True, Psycho Vamp had been after him for a very, very long time, and it was partially my fault that he had found us, but still. If Kanin had succumbed to Sarren's cruel insanity, what would he do to me?
"So, why are you still here?" I demanded, glaring at Jackal. "You said you were waiting for me-here I am. What do you want?"
"I have a proposition for you."
Instantly suspicious, I stiffened, and Jackal sighed. "Oh, don't give me that look, sister. I'm a reasonable guy." He smiled dangerously. "You invaded my city, set it on fire, killed my men, and destroyed over ten years of careful planning, but that doesn't mean we can't reach an agreement."
"I have nothing to say to you," I growled. "There's nothing you can offer that will keep me here. I'm leaving. If you want a fight, try me again when the sun goes down."
"Well, that's a shame," Jackal replied, seeming unconcerned as I turned away. "Because I know what Sarren was looking for."
I paused a few feet from the hall. I could feel Jackal's smug, knowing grin at my back and, hating myself, turned slowly back around. "What are you talking about?"
"Like I said, Sarren came to Old D.C. looking for something. Showed up a few days before I did, then took off again with Kanin. I didn't follow, because I'm not stupid enough to take him on myself, and because I could feel you coming. So I thought I'd wait for you."
"You still haven't answered my question. Or given me any reason to stick around." I narrowed my eyes. "In fact, you have about five seconds to make your case before I walk out that door."
"Oh, trust me. You'll want to hear this." The former raider king crossed his arms, unconcerned. "You know how the rabids were created, don't you?" he asked. "That it was our dear sire, the noble Kanin himself, who sacrificed our own kind to seek a cure to the plague, only to have the humans screw everything up when they changed those vampires into rabids?"
"He told me."
"Good. Saves me the time of explaining everything." Jackal leaned against a bookcase. "Well, they didn't have just the one lab. The government had a few of them, scattered about the country, all frantically working to end the plague. And one of them is somewhere in this city." He grinned at my startled expression. "Yeah, Kanin once mentioned there was a hidden lab in the old capital, and when Sarren came sniffing around, I figured that's what he was looking for."
"Where is this lab?"
"No idea." Jackal shrugged. "Figured I'd talk to Azura, see if she knew anything about it. She thinks that it's underneath the city somewhere, down in the old tunnel systems that run belowground. Problem is, those tunnels are crawling with rabids, making it difficult to search for it. That's when I got the brilliant idea to wait until you showed up. I figured we'd cover more ground if we looked for it together."
It was my turn to snort. "And I'm going to agree to help you...why?"
"Because if you help me find the lab," Jackal returned, "I'll help you save Kanin."
"I don't need your help-"
"Yes, you do." He pushed himself off the bookcase, giving me an intense look. "You don't know Sarren. You don't know what he's capable of. You think you're going to storm his lair, take him out and rescue Kanin, but you're wrong. Sarren's a crazy bastard, and he's older and smarter than either of us. You want to stop him, you're going to need my help. We can always kill each other later, when we catch up to our sire. But if you want to see Kanin again, you're going to have to trust me."
"Because you have such a great track record in that department?"
"Oh, come on," Jackal said, smiling encouragingly. "Just because I staked you and tossed you out a window? Surely we can get past that little misunderstanding."
"No," I growled, feeling my fangs slip through my gums. "It's not what you did to me. You kidnapped and murdered my friends. You fed one of them to a rabid. You tortured a man to get what you wanted, and you are responsible for his death." I remembered the bloodstained arena, the cage in the center and the rabid pulling its victim down with chilling screams. My lip curled back from my fangs. "I should kill you now for what you did to them."
"Is that so?" Jackal regarded me intently. "Then tell me, my dear sister, how many have you killed? How many of my men died when you fled the city with your little 'friends,' hmm? How many throats have you torn out, how many humans have you ripped apart, because you couldn't control the Hunger? Or maybe I'm wrong." He tilted his head with a fake quizzical expression. "Maybe you're the first of our kind who doesn't need human blood to survive. If that's the case, then please, tell me now so I can apologize and be on my way." He looked at me expectantly with his eyebrows raised. I clenched my fists and glared back, and he nodded. "Who are you trying to fool? People are food. You know it as well as I do. So don't expect me to feel terribly guilty about killing your humans, not when you reek of blood and death. You're not any less of a monster then I am."
I growled, half tempted to lunge and cut that smirking head from his body. Zeke's father, Jebbadiah Crosse, deserved that much justice. So did Darren and Ruth and all the others we'd lost because of the raider king. But Azura took a single step forward, placing herself closer to me and Jackal, and I could feel her readiness to jump in if needed.
"Work with me here, sister," Jackal went on, his voice low and cajoling. "I'm not asking for much. I just want you to help me find the lab. Then we can go rescue the old man, but I need to find the lab first."
"That could take time," I argued. "Time I don't have. Time Kanin doesn't have. We have to get to him before-"
"Kanin is already dead," Jackal snapped. "Or as near to it as he can be. Sarren forced him into hibernation, and it's rare for us to come out of that. He isn't going to wake up anytime soon. And if Sarren wanted him truly destroyed, he would've done it by now."
"Why are you so eager to find this place?"
Jackal gave me a look of incredulous contempt. "You really have to ask me that?" He sighed and shook his head. "What have I been after this whole time? What was so important that I searched the country for three years to find that old preacher and his little congregation? What would bring me here, to ask for your help, when I had a whole army of raiders and minions ready to do my bidding? Think hard, sister. It's not that difficult."
I didn't have to think about it. "The cure," I whispered. Jackal smirked and nodded.
"Yeah. The cure. The end of Rabidism. That's a little more important than finding Kanin right now." He held up a hand as I glared. "I still want to find the old man," he told me. "Like I said, we need to have a talk. And I'm going to need your help to get him away from Sarren. So...you help me, and I'll do the same." He bared his fangs in a savage grin. "And then, after all that is out of the way, you can try to kill me, and I'll stick another stake in your gut and leave you for the rabids, what d'ya say?"
"Jackal," Azura said, sounding faintly exasperated, "if you wish this girl's cooperation, I suggest you stop taunting her. She is not one of your simple human thugs whom you can cower with a threat. If I am forced to kill her because of your uncharitable attitude, I will be very annoyed with you. Now..." She turned that dark, intense stare on me. "The sun is up, and I am very tired. If you two wish to continue your verbal sparring, I ask that you wait until evening. For now, I offer my home for as long as you have need of it."
"Um..." I hesitated, not sure what to make of this generosity, if I should trust it. Or her. But she was right. The sun was up, and unless I wanted to venture outside, I would have to take my chances. "Thank you."
Azura blinked slowly. "I would offer you the guest suite across from Jackal's, but I fear I might return to a war zone. So I will have William show you to one of the lower suites. We will continue this conversation tonight. And, girl..." Her dark gaze narrowed, turning ominous and threatening. "I can smell the blood on you. Do not eat my staff, or I will forget my hospitality long enough to remove the head from your neck, is that understood?"
I bit down a smirk. Diplomacy was necessary when dealing with Master vampires, and Princes especially; they did not deal well with sarcasm, I'd discovered. "Yes," I replied simply. "I understand."
Apparently satisfied, Azura turned to the door and raised a hand. One second later, a human in a black-and-white uniform stepped through the frame and bowed to me. "I will show you to your room," he said in a formal voice. "Please, follow me."
I shot Jackal one last glare and followed the human, trailing him down several long hallways and flights of stairs, my mind reeling. I had fully expected to find Sarren or my sire tonight; that it was Jackal threw a wrench in all my plans. I wasn't sure what to do next.
The human made his way unerringly through the massive house, until we came to a long hallway of doors. After pointing out the one to my room, the man bowed hurriedly and left, leaving me alone in the corridor. Still wary, I opened the door, revealing a small but lavishly furnished room. The bed, dresser, nightstand and table were old but meticulously cared for, polished to a dark shine and smelling faintly of chemicals. A pitcher and glass sat on the nightstand beside the bed, and the scent of warm blood roused my Hunger with a vengeance. I didn't trust Jackal at all, but it wouldn't hurt to take advantage of the Prince's hospitality, especially since it came in a cup and not the veins of a human.
I drained the pitcher, feeling the blood settle in my empty stomach and the sharp ache vanish for now. As my Hunger subsided, sleep took its place, dragging at my mind, weighing me down. After locking my door, I dragged the bulky dresser from its place against the wall and shoved it up against the frame. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I was not going to sleep in a strange house with two vampires, one of whom was Jackal, without some kind of precaution.
Satisfied that I'd at least have warning if someone came bursting through my door, I crawled atop the cool red sheets, not bothering to take off my coat or boots, and pondered what Jackal had said for as long as I could before succumbing to the darkness.
I woke the next evening with my sword in hand, having unsheathed and readied it as sleep finally dragged me under. Unfamiliar walls and furniture stared back at me as I rose, pausing a moment to remember where I was. A glance at the door revealed that it was still locked and barricaded, untouched. The pitcher sat empty on the end table, so no one had disturbed me while I slept-no servant, anyway.
As I sheathed my weapon, the previous night's conversation came back to me, making me frown. Jackal was here. My ruthless, murdering blood brother. I should leave. Better yet, I should kill him. We had a clear night sky and an empty lawn perfect for it. He'd kicked my ass the last time we'd fought, nearly killed me, but I was stronger now. If it came down to blows, this time I'd give him a hell of a fight.
But, if he was telling the truth, if the cure to Rabidism lay somewhere beneath our feet, no cost would be too high to find it. Much as I hated to admit it, Jackal was right. Charging in blind after Kanin wouldn't help him; I needed a plan if I was going to face Sarren. The help of another strong vampire was too great an opportunity to pass up.
Still, the thought of working with Jackal made my blood boil. I hadn't forgotten what he'd done to our group. He was cruel and vicious, and saw humans only as food or the means to an end. He killed without a second thought. He'd killed people I knew, people I considered friends.
Zeke would never consider letting him live.
I was still trying to decide what to do when a servant knocked timidly on the door, informing me that Master Azura and Master Jackal were waiting for me in the living room and to follow him please. After returning the dresser to its proper place, I followed the well-dressed human down the many hallways and up a flight of stairs before he paused outside a doorway and motioned me inside.
Azura and Jackal were there, of course, Azura sitting on a sofa with her long legs crossed, a wineglass of blood dangling between her fingers. Jackal slouched against the fireplace mantel, despite the flames flickering in the hearth, and the light cast his features in an eerie red glow. How he could stand being so close to the flames was baffling; I would never consider tempting fate like that. But then Jackal shot me a grin, smug and challenging, and I realized he was playing me. He knew the effect it would have on a vampire and was making sure I knew that he was not afraid.
"Oh, hey, the queen finally makes her appearance." Jackal raised his glass in a mocking salute before tossing the whole thing back in one swig. Azura gave him a disdainful look and sipped her drink. "So, little sister, are you ready to get this project underway?"
"I still haven't agreed to help you," I said, making Jackal sigh with impatience. "Why is that so surprising? As if I would agree to work with the guy who slaughtered my friends, who will probably stick a knife in my back as soon as I turn around."
"Don't think of it as helping me," Jackal said in a reasonable voice. He didn't, I noticed, deny either accusation. "Think of it as helping Kanin. I, at least, will take any advantage I can get if I'm going to be facing Sarren."
I turned to Azura. "What do you think of all this?"
"Me?" Azura raised a thin eyebrow. "I don't care one way or the other. I'm just here to make sure you two don't turn my house inside out."
"Come on, sister," Jackal implored. "Let's not have a repeat of last night. You know this is the best way to help Kanin. And, admit it, you're just as curious as I am."
I glared at him. "Let's say I do agree to this, for now." His smirk grew wider, and I ignored it. "You said Sarren was searching for the lab, as well. Where do you think it could be?"
Azura uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, setting her glass on the low table in front of the couch. "I had my people track down some old maps of the city and its subway systems," she said, smoothing a large sheet of paper over the wood. "They don't tell us exactly where to find a supersecret government lab, but I have a few good guesses."
Jackal remained where he was, but I crossed the room to the other side of the table, looking down at the paper on the surface. I'd never seen a map before and had no idea how to read one; it was a tangle of lines and scribbles that merged together into a chaotic mess. But Azura placed one dark red fingernail on a random line, tracing it across the page.
"The rabids," she began in her throaty voice, "keep to the subway tunnels in the daytime. At night, they emerge to hunt and stalk for prey, but usually return to the underground stations at dawn. Except for those few that cannot seem to leave my fence alone, at least. No one in this city ventures down into the tunnels, for any reason, at any time. It is not known exactly how many rabids are down there, but there are likely thousands of them. And this," she added, circling a place on the map with her finger, "is where we think the main nest is located." Withdrawing her hand, she glanced up at me. "That's where you're going to want to look for the lab."
"Why is that?"
"If this laboratory unleashed the rabid virus, it would have spread quickly. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people would have been infected around that area. There would be a very high rabid population starting from that point and spreading outward."
"Wait a second." I frowned, thinking back to what Kanin had told me. "I thought the laboratory in New Covington was responsible for creating the rabids-they escaped, and that's how the rabid plague started."
"Is that what Kanin said?" Jackal snorted. "That's part of the story, but not the whole of it." He pushed himself off the wall and sauntered to an end table, grabbing a pitcher halffull of red and refilling his glass. Sitting comfortably in one of the armchairs, he took a large swallow from the glass and smiled at me.
"Have a seat, sister. Let me tell you exactly what happened, so you can fully appreciate the role our sire had in this whole fubar'ed situation." Jackal took another long, leisurely sip, waiting for me to sit down. I perched cautiously on the opposite chair.
"You know that Kanin captured vampires and handed them over to the scientists to experiment on," Jackal began, pleased now that he had an audience. It reminded me of his speech in the arena, standing in front of his army, the raiders cheering his name...right before he'd thrown Darren into the arena with a rabid for their entertainment. I could still hear Darren's screams as the rabid tore him apart. Rage flared, and I swallowed the growl rising to my throat, trying to concentrate on what the raider king was saying now.
"It was all in the interest of curing Red Lung," Jackal continued, oblivious to my sudden anger, "or that's what Kanin probably told himself while he was selling out his own kind. He would track down a likely target, stake them to send them into hibernation, then deliver them to the laboratories, where the scientists would do all the happy things scientists do to their hapless subjects."
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, disturbed to think of Kanin that way, even though I already knew about it. Or had thought I did, anyway.
"Thing was," Jackal continued, putting his boots up on the low, polished table, ignoring the glare from Azura, "New Covington wasn't the only lab searching for a cure. True, they were the one with the vampire patients, but they also shared their research with the other labs. And something happened here in D.C. to cause a massive rabid outbreak. Hundreds of people Turned within a matter of hours. We know the New Covington lab burned down and all the research was either taken or destroyed, but we don't know anything about the lab below this city. Is it still standing? Does it have the research from decades ago? What's been left behind, I wonder? The cure? Hopefully. But, what about the other things, the research on the plague and the virus and how Rabidism came to be?" Jackal's gold gaze narrowed, and something in that intense look made my skin crawl. "If any of that research is left behind, who is the very last person we'd want to stumble upon it? Sarren is brilliant and crazy and more than a little unstable. Think of all the nasty things he could do if he got his hands on that kind of information."
I shivered and felt the last of my protests dissolve. If Sarren was planning something, he had to be stopped. And if there was a cure to Rabidism, we had to find it. For better or worse, it appeared I would be working with my blood brother. For now, at least. I desperately hoped I was making the right choice and that Kanin would be able to hang on until we could get to him.
"I thought you would see it that way." Jackal smiled and rose, his duster falling behind him. "So, now that we're all finally on the same page, shall we get this party started?"
