NEWBORN: Book One of the Newborn Trilogy (42 page)

I want to say no. I can’t. “Yes,” I exhale.
“It tastes good…”

“I would know…” Jack murmurs in my ear.
Grabbing me around the throat, he spins me around. “Surrender,
wizard!” Jack screams at Gabriel, dragging me forward. “Surrender
or I’ll cut her throat!” The blade is back against my neck, warm
from the heat of my own breath.

Gabriel is too distracted to notice.
“Decimate!” he yells, pointing his wand at a vampire. The vampire
explodes away from him in a shower of red light. “Nullify!” Merri
rockets at another vampire. Yowling, the vampire falls onto a wood
pile. “Torgi!” Gabriel shouts, pointing his wand at the pile. It
bursts into flames. Screaming, the vampire writhes insanely.
Burning alive.

“Halt!” The word booms from the sentinel
tower, louder than anything. “Halt, wizard! We have the human girl!
Surrender now! You
and
your owl! Do so, or her life is
forfeit from this earth!”

Turquoise eyes aflame, his brow flecked with
sweat, Gabriel searches wildly around. Unable to believe it. Then
he spots Jack and me – Jack with his strong arm grasping me around
the middle and me with the knife at my throat, my expression tight
and scared. Oh no! It can’t end this way!

It has to
, my alter ego says sadly.
I’m sorry, Nora.

Are you?
I ask her.
Are you
really?

Around the compound, vampires are getting to
their feet, nursing aches and pains. Black eyes and bruised faces
abound. Flapping high, Merrifeather perches on the palisade,
awaiting instruction. The vampire on the wood pile continues to
scream, writhing in his inferno. Everyone is watching Gabriel.

“Put the fire out,” Jack orders calmly,
staring down turquoise eyes. “Now!” He drags the knife down my
throat.

“Ouch!” I gasp.

Face impermeable, Gabriel points his wand at
the burning wood pile. “Sumio aqui!” A swimming pool’s worth of
water splashes onto the wood, dousing it. The vampire stops
screaming and moans, gurgling water from his mouth. The wizard is
paying him no heed. Instead, he’s looking daggers at Jack.

The vampire grins. “Patience, wizard.
He
is coming.”

I can only guess who he’s referring to. We
wait. Nobody daring to move. I
can’t
move my head without
cutting my throat against Jack’s blade. So I take inventory as best
I can with fixed vision.

Eleven vampires attacked us including Jack.
One is dead, killed by Gabriel – he’s lying on the ground nearby.
One is permanently disfigured, having his eyes torn out by Merri –
he’s collapsed on the ground as well, apparently having passed out.
One is severely burned, a combined effort of both Merri and Gabriel
– he’s lying on the doused wood pile. Can’t say if he’s fainted or
not.

That leaves eight. Seven in front of me,
including Amoretta. One behind me, being Jack. Eight plus three
casualties are eleven. I think I can guess who’s in the tower.
That’s twelve. But where’s thirteen?

Where is the Newborn?

Silence falls on the compound as a breeze
sweeps my hair. Vampires are watching me hungrily. Something moves
on the periphery of my vision. Something black. I crane ever so
slightly to look. Ouch! I do it anyway, and I’m rewarded for my
efforts. Yay! I’m so relieved! Wolf’s leg is twitching!

Jack’s noticed, too. “Henry,” he begins, “Get
–”

Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound fills the
stockade.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
It’s coming from a sentinel
tower.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Somebody is descending the wooden
staircase inside. The noise is incredibly loud. Geez, I guess
that’s what you get when the whole freaking place is made of wood.
Thud! Thud! Thud!

He emerges from an opening at the tower’s
base. A tall, slender vampire. Gray haired, despite looking no
older than forty. His garb is fascinating me most. Long, enveloping
black robes are fastened around his figure. Marvelous. Undeniably
so. He’s the first vampire I’ve seen in robes.

Spreading his arms wide, he comes to greet
us. “Welcome!” His voice has the same booming quality we heard.
Apparently it’s natural. “I’m so pleased you came!” Sweeping over
to where Jack and I are standing, he stares into my eyes. His are
bright red. “Here is our specimen, I see,” he remarks, taking my
chin in his fingers and squeezing it. “The pleasure belongs to
me!”

What the fuck?

“Hands off, Mortimer!” This comes from an
equally powerful voice. Turning slowly in front of me, the vampire
reveals Gabriel over his shoulder, turquoise eyes glinting and
deadly. “I’m warning you!”

“What do you plan?” Mortimer asks. His
expression is incredulous. “You’re surrounded and outnumbered. Best
of all,” he adds with a gleeful smile, “we have your friend here in
custody!” Sighing contentedly, he looks upward, then his smile
dies. “Can’t we do anything about the bird?”

“No, sire,” answers one of the vampires – a
young male. “We tried taking it down but it’s ferocious! Ripped out
Thomas’s eyes!”

Mortimer says, “So I saw. Put him out of his
misery. The rest of you!” he yells, his temper instant. “Use your
brains, blockheads! There are long pieces of wood around! Use them
as pikes to tear the bird down. This isn’t magic!”

“Well said,” Gabriel observes.

Mortimer whirls around, his black robes
billowing. “Silence, conjurer!”

“If we tie them up first,” Jack begins
loudly, “we can deal with this situation better, sire. The werewolf
has only minutes before he’s revived. He received four bites and
has been out, but it won’t be long!”

Mortimer’s taunts are for all to hear. “See!
There! Somebody with a brain! Thank you, Jack! The rest of you
would have let the werewolf recover and attack me from behind!
Learn to think, idiots!”

I’m surprised to witness the chief vampire
being so mean to his followers, but it’s entertaining so I’m not
complaining. I’m rather enjoying myself until I feel the blade
prick against my throat.

“Not an inch, Nora, not an inch,” Jack
breathes in my ear.

Mortimer is approaching the wizard, his arms
wide. “What are you waiting for?” he asks, brow furrowed. “Drop
your wand!”

Gabriel is searching around wildly like a
trapped animal. I feel terrible for him, but I don’t know what to
do. I realize people in my situation are supposed to yell, ‘No,
Gabriel! I don’t matter. Save yourself!’ The truth is I
do
matter. I want to live. Death is still on my backburner.

“Drop your wand,” Mortimer commands. “Drop it
and she lives. Hold it for another second and she dies.”

I’m staring into turquoise eyes, my own
desperate. Please, Gabriel! Do it!

Mortimer snarls, “Drop it at once!”

Turquoise eyes surrendering into a cloudy
sheen, Gabriel gives up. First his arm slackens, lengthening,
falling to his side. Then, a second later, the wand leaves his
grasp to stick in the mud.

My wizard is finished.

Defeated.

Five years at Magasant.

For nothing.

“Get the wand,” Mortimer demands. The young
male who spoke before retrieves it. “Give it to me, Seamus!” Taking
the wand from his follower, Mortimer presses it against Gabriel’s
neck, finding his pulse. He jabs hard, making the wizard wince.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” says the vampire, his voice laced
with satisfaction as he presses the wand into Gabriel. “I
can’t
use it, but it feels like power all the same. Oh to be
a wizard! Oh to be a wizard… clearly isn’t everything!”

Slipping the wand into the pocket of his
black robes, Mortimer turns to his followers. “Three stakes. One
fire. Put the wizard in the middle and remember to tie the ropes
tight, fools! Get on with it!”

* * *

We are tied to stakes.

Gabriel’s in the middle. I’m on the left.
Wolf’s on the right. We’re facing the front palisade gates – now
closed. This is bad. This is really,
really
bad. I don’t
know what they have planned, but it includes rope, wood, and
kindling.

Oh fuck! Oh fuck!

This can’t be happening!

It is happening
, my alter ego says.
Well, you have to die someday.

Thank you for that observation
, I
respond to her.

At least Wolf is conscious now. He’s
transitioned back into a boy and is wincing every time I look at
him. It’s the vampire venom. But he
is
conscious – I will
take what I can get right now. As I gaze over at him, he offers me
a sad, crooked smile, his maroon lips quirking upward. “I guess
this is the end,” he says.

“Death isn’t the end,” I tell him. I’m trying
extremely hard to smile back. I’m failing. “So you’re wrong!”

The werewolf looks sickly. His normally
russet skin is white. It’s frightening to witness. Less frightening
– I guess – in the face of my own death. Right now I’m simply
grateful I didn’t have to see my favorite werewolf turn into a
vampire. I’m glad he’s able to understand me. Able to say
goodbye.

Gabriel is not speaking. Or looking at me.
Turquoise eyes are downcast and ignoring all around them. An
expression of shock has unfurled down his face over the last ten
minutes. Because he failed. He failed as a wizard. He failed as a
Releaser. He failed as my protector, let alone his own. We deal
with the end in different ways, so I won’t begrudge him. Won’t
force him to talk to me.

I
will
tell him I love him when the
time comes. Wolf, too.

Mortimer is gazing from Gabriel to Jack, his
face amused. “This is quite something!”

Closing my eyes, I take several deep breaths
of air. I realize they are among my last. They are beautiful, full
and fresh like the air feels after a cleansing rain. Life is such a
blessing. I know that now.

I’m surprised when I hear my wizard speak. “I
want to know something,” he says to Mortimer.

The vampire responds, “Ask away, doomed
soul.”

“The Newborn,” Gabriel begins, turquoise eyes
blazing as they reflect red, “Is Jack the Newborn? Is he number
thirteen?”

A pause.

Mortimer’s face twists into a smile. He
searches for the named but doesn’t find him. “Jack,” Mortimer
remarks, his gaze falling between us, “is
not
the Newborn.
But – my dear wizard – I dare say Jack knows who is!”

I can’t help it. “How?” I ask him. A second’s
reprieve from my death sentence is all this inquiry can possibly
give me, and that’s reason enough to do it. “How does Jack know who
the Newborn is?”

The vampire’s eyes are mad. “Because,” he
begins, “Jack is the vampire who
bit
the Newborn. Didn’t you
know?” I shake my head. “Poor thing!” Mortimer coos, delighted.
“Your ignorance is complete!”

“Tell us who the Newborn is!” Gabriel shouts
at him. “I demand to know!”

Red eyes grow impossibly wide. “You
demand
to know, wizard? Have you no awareness of your
situation? I suppose wizards are used to giving orders to
sub
Purids
,” he says, emphasizing his words with rage, “because you
think you’re first on the pecking order of things. Don’t you?”

Silence from the wizard.

“We know you do,” Mortimer continues, his
expression deadly, “that’s why
you
are
first
to get
burned alive!”

“No!” I scream. “Please! Don’t!”

The vampire’s expression turns to pure
delight upon hearing my screams. Bathing in them, he turns around
to face the front of the stockade. “Get a fire going!” he roars to
the surrounding vampires. “I said get a fire going! Seamus, more
wood! Amoretta, get kerosene! We are having flesh tonight!”

This announcement is met with roars of
approval.

* * *

I see no way around it.

Around the fire before us, piled high with
wood and burning. Vampires surround the melee, their faces gleaming
with hungry anticipation. I’m trying to free myself, but my hands
are tied too tightly behind my back. I try pushing the ground with
my legs. The stake is too deeply planted.

Staring into the sky, I see evening is
falling. My last. Maybe – just maybe – I’ll get to see one more
purple sky before the end. If I’m lucky. Though things like sunsets
are harder to appreciate while burning alive. The unfortunate truth
of this soaks my skin, filling my pores. Dread is engulfing my
senses.

“Are you scared of dying?” Wolf asks from
beside me.

Startled, I gaze over at him. His black eyes
are wide and panicked, russet skin sweaty and reflecting flames. I
have to think for a moment. “Sometimes,” I answer honestly.
“Sometimes I’m scared, I guess. Yes.”

The werewolf nods, his muscular arms
straining against tight bonds. No avail. “Are you scared now?” he
asks.

Geez, so many hard questions.

Exhaling deeply, I close my eyes. I want to
lie, but I’m not going to. Not to Wolf. “Yes,” I tell him, “because
I think it’s going to be painful – dying like this. When I think of
death I think of so many things. Never pain. I never thought mine
would be a painful death. Silly me!”

Wolf grins his gorgeous, crooked grin. For a
second I forget about what’s happening. We’re back in Dr. Tuten’s
English 301 classroom on the first day and I’m smirking over his
name. Wolfgang. The second passes and I remember where we are. See
the roaring fire in front of us.

“Truth is,” Wolf begins, “after being bitten
by four vampires and enduring their poison, fire doesn’t scare me
much!”

Gabriel snorts from between us. We stare at
him, but the wizard adds no more. He is giving the world the silent
treatment. Fine by me. I can’t think of anything he can say to make
me feel better about dying.

Disengaging from the crowd around the fire,
Mortimer approaches our bound forms. Clapping his hands together
and beaming, he says, “Tonight – my dear captives – you will burn
alive until dead! You will then be consumed by vampires,” he adds,
his smile growing manic. “Have you no comment?”