Vengeance of the Demons (12 page)

An image popped up on the large monitor in front of her.

“This is vamp blood.” He pointed to the screen. “See how there are these black cells and then there are also the red blood cells?”

“Yup.”

“The black are the Vampire cells, the red are the human cells.” He tapped on the keyboard again. A picture appeared of blood cells, only all of them were white. “This is Vampire blood. All white. No black, mutated cells at all. Now if we can get a new virus, a stronger virus, into a vamp’s body, we are hoping to turn vamp cells on themselves.” A video appeared. A rush of grayish cells merged in with the black and red cells. The gray cells attached to the black cells and the black cells in turn began attacking each other. Soon all of the black cells turned gray and then shrunk.

“So the new cells make the black cells kill each other off, but then what?” she asked. “The cells are still in there.”

“Then we have a full blood transfusion and hopefully wash all the dead cells out,” said Lou.

“Have you tried it yet?” she asked.

“Oh yes,” said Nicholas. “Dozens of times.”

“Has it worked?”

“Not yet. But we’re almost there,” said Lou.

“So what do the vampyr in the basement have to do with this?” she asked.

“We need their blood, and we need to try different serums on them as well,” said Lou.”

“But the cure is for vamps, not vampyr.”

“True, but we take what we can get for now. Right now, we have three Vampires and now two vampyr here. Sometimes we have ten or more vamps. It depends on what we are able to get. But since the vamps were mutated by a virus meant for Vampires technically the cure should work on vampyr as well. They used to be human as well at one time.”

Her stomach churned. They were going to use William as a guinea pig. She stared at the doctor. “You’re a Vampire. How can you do that to your own kind?”

He shrugged. “You’re a human. How did you do that to your own kind? Wars, genocide, starvation, homelessness. All of that was wiped out by the V2000 virus, and my people are the ones who have kept it at bay. We all have our faults. The one thing I’ve learned in my considerable number of years on Earth is that none of us is better than the other.”

“Exactly. If we’re equals then Vampires and vampyr aren’t just animals and they don’t deserve to be tested on like lab rats.”

“Evan, do you even grasp what we are trying to do here? We’re trying to right the wrong that’s been done,” said Lou.

“But at what cost? What level do we have to stoop to?”

“Evan—”

“Have you looked around? This enclave is lucky to have what we have, but most don’t. Most still live in squalor. Do you know how many humans are still out there in the woods, scraping to survive? We should be looking for them, bringing them here, helping them as well as doing this.”

“Don’t lecture me on what’s going on in the world. I know all too well what the humans are suffering.”

Evan swallowed remembering William’s words. “No. You have no clue what’s going on out there. There are things, new things and they’re coming. It’s already started in Chicago and if we don’t help the Vampires every last one of us is dead.”

Lou’s expression hardened. “You know, I think you should go lay down. You’ve had a hard morning. Some rest will do you good. We wouldn’t want you to have any lasting damage to that leg.”

Evan clenched her jaw and headed for the exit. She couldn’t get out of that place fast enough. Experimenting on vampyr. She may have no love for them, but one thing she did know, they weren’t all bad and they didn’t deserve to be treated lower than common house pets. And Lou… She didn’t even know him anymore. There would be no convincing him to help. She’d just have to figure out how to do it herself.

* * * *

William coughed and grabbed his side. The moon was high in the sky allowing him the opportunity to get up and move around without worry of being burned by the sun, as well as use the pot in the corner.

He stretched his painful muscles and shook out his legs, wishing for the backseat of his SUV to lie down on.

The door to the cell opened and in walked the tall blond he recognized as a bystander from his previous beatings. He closed the door and leaned on it heavily. He spent several minutes watching William.

“Was there something you wanted to know?” William finally asked. “Or did you want to beat me like the other one?”

“My brother, Peter, has always been one to use his fists first.”

William looked the younger guy up and down. His posture was relaxed but not hostile.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Should I be? You’re chained and in a heavily armed prison area.”

“Plus I’ve not fought back once.”

“Yeah, that too.”

“I’m William, and you are…”

“Tommy. Peter and Evan’s brother.”

“Evan’s brother?”

A strange expression crossed Peter’s face. “Do you know her?”

William swallowed his dry lump. “I met her yesterday.”

“You seemed surprised when I said she was my sister.”

He needed to change the subject. He couldn’t afford to get Evan in trouble.

“Did you need something?”

“I’ve just been wondering why you helped my sister? Why did you risk yourself to bring her here? You had to know there was a large chance that you’d be caught.”

“She was hurt and in trouble.”

“But you could have taken her to a Vampire hospital.”

“True, but she asked me not to.”

His brow furrowed. “Really?”

“When I found her she was delirious. I was headed this direction anyway, and I figured it would be better if I brought her where she asked to go. If I took her to a Vampire hospital, I’d feel responsible for her. I’d have to explain where I found her and where she came from, and I figured if she were out on her own like that she was probably running from someone and for good reason.”

“So you don’t believe in human slaves then?”

“The area I’m from no longer allows human slaves. They’ve been freed.”

“Really?”

The door had been opened. This may be the opportunity William had waited for. “This facility is rather large and advanced.”

“One of the biggest.”

“So there are others?”

“Dozens that we’ve found.”

“And they are all as big and well-armed as this one?”

Tommy stood from where he lounged. “I’ve said too much.”

“Wait,” said William.

Tommy stopped.

“Do you think I could get something to drink?”

Tommy shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not allowed.”

William nodded and it was suddenly as if his entire body had lost all moisture. His sight locked on to Tommy’s neck. Tommy was a big guy. Plenty of blood pumping through his veins. Surely he wouldn’t miss a pint or two.

William turned his head away and ground his teeth together till his fangs dug craters into his lower lip. He couldn’t do that. Evan’s face floated into his mind. He had to keep it together.

* * * *

“Hey.” Tommy stood outside Evan’s room.

They stared at each other for a minute before she opened the door wider and let him in. She stomped back to her bed and threw herself down on it. She picked at the edge of a pillow, her anger swirling inside like a vortex.

“I’m sorry coming back is upsetting,” he said.

She exploded. “How can he do this? How can this possibly be okay? What the hell happened here?” she asked. “When Norman was in charge we were missioned with finding other survivors and bringing them to safety. Helping them. Now we’re what? On a mission to destroy Vampires?”

Tommy blew out a breath and sat heavily on her bed. “Things have changed, sis. Lots of things.” He looked up at her with his big doe eyes and the faithful soldier façade cracked.

The anger whooshed out of her and she sat next to him. “What happened?”

Tommy shook his head and shrugged. “It was chaos after Norman left. He’d heard there was a small enclave that needed help. He left Pop in charge. But days turned into weeks and people started to panic. We’d had an influx of new people months before and most of them only knew Norman as a leader. Pop had a hard time controlling them. That’s when the rules started getting stricter. The patrols started and everyone was assigned a job. Things got tighter. Food rations, work hours, all kinds of stuff. Most of it good, some of it not so good.”

“Like what?” She didn’t want to ask, but she needed to know what she was getting into.

“There were a couple of accidental deaths. Several not so accidental. And a group of people exiled.”

“Exiled?”

“They refused to follow the rules. So they were driven down to Los Angeles and let go.”

“What? How could you just leave them there in a Vampire city? That was as good as walking them into a slave auction.”

“Pop said it was for the good of the enclave. We had to think of the whole not the individual.”

“But wasn’t that risky? I mean, if they’re captured they could tell where this place is.”

“Pop said it was a chance we had to take.”

Her gut twisted. Pop. Pop. Pop. It all came back to Lou. And Lou may have changed but she knew one thing for sure. He wasn’t one to leave things to chance. He’d never have let those people go so close to Los Angeles. She stared at Tommy and wondered if he really believed the lie that those people had been exiled to Los Angeles or if he’d already figured out the truth. Those people were in a shallow grave somewhere in the desert.

A question churned in her mind, something she needed to know, but wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject without seeming strange.

“Where did all the guns come from?” she asked. “We never had all these weapons before.”

“We went up to Idaho. There was a base up there in Mountain Home, about forty minutes from Boise. We took everything we could find.”

“So, if we were attacked, guns are all we have?”

He gazed at her for a minute and then shook his head. “No. A group has been searching other military bases for a couple years now. They’ve been coming back with some bigger weapons.”

“Bombs?”

“I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re stored in a bunker even I’m not given access too.”

“Have you heard Lou say anything about using weapons and going on the offensive?” She held her breath.

“Why so curious?”

“There’s a lot of people out there. Humans and vamps. Innocent people. I’d hate to see them hurt, is all.”

He patted her knee. “It’s good to have you back, sis. I missed you more than you can know. But be careful. This isn’t the place you left. Objectives have changed. It’s not about helping others anymore. It’s about our own survival.”

“Sounds like it isn’t even about that. It’s about retaking the world.”

“Is that a problem?”

They did have a right to live in the world as free people, but if it was at the cost of millions of lives…

“How can you have doubts?” he asked. “After what you’ve been through I’d have thought you of all people would be the first one to pick up a weapon and lead the charge.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I want to live without walls and bars, but I don’t want my freedom at the cost of other people.”

“They aren’t people anymore. Some never even were.”

“How can you say that? Your mom—”

“Is gone.”

She shook her head. “You sound like Lou.”

“How else do you expect me to be? I thought you were gone, and it almost killed me. I can’t think of her being out there. Living as one of those things—”

“They aren’t things. They’re people. They live, eat, breathe, sleep, work. They’re different but they aren’t things.” Her anger was getting the better of her. And when had she starting standing up for vamps?

“What happened to you out there? You’re different.”

“Nothing.” She shrugged. “I just think the way we’re treating them here is the same thing we were fighting against them for doing. How can we be on the side of good if we act like them?”

“We’re not on the side of good. We’re on the side of humanity.”

“And is this? What’s happening down there. Is it humane?”

He clamped his lips shut tight. She didn’t expect him to go against his dad. She wanted him to see that things weren’t so black and white. Being out there in the new world had taught her that much, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

“I’m gonna let you rest.” He stood and headed for the exit.

“Tommy?”

He turned.

“If they aren’t people anymore and some never were, why is Lou working on a cure?”

His brow furrowed so deep his eyes almost closed. His mouth opened and then closed. He threw the door wide and stormed out to the hall.

After he was gone, she threw herself back on her bed and tossed her arms overhead. The movement pulled on her leg muscles, and she lowered her arms and rubbed her thigh.

Her thoughts turned to William and the hard, dark cell he was shackled in. She needed to find him some food. But getting it wouldn’t be easy.

* * * *

William awoke some time later to a scorching pain in his hand. The sunlight had crept across the floor and his hand lay in it. He pulled it to his chest and tried to sit up. His ribs ached but not as much as they had. The sound of the door unlocking had him completely alert within seconds.

He sat up and tried to straighten his dirty clothes, hoping it would be Evan.

The door pushed inward and in stepped Tommy and Peter.

“You awake in here, bloodsucker?” asked Peter.

William refused to answer. The games had become tiresome within the first hour of his capture. He’d been nothing but forthcoming. And Peter had been nothing but malicious.

Peter crouched down in front of William and stared at him. “I have a question for you. If you answer right, I’ll leave. If you answer wrong, I won’t.”

“I’ve told you everything you’ve asked so far,” said William. “Why would now be any different?”

“Do you know my sister, Evan?”

William swallowed and his eyes flicked to Tommy. That was not what he’d been expecting.

“No.”

Peter’s fist came out of nowhere and connected with William’s jaw. His head rocked back and hit the cement wall, dazing him.