A Little Undead (19 page)

Bruce just shook his head, hair
immobile as if made of steel fibers. “You leave me no choice.
It pains me to see you this way, clinging to humanity you can never
regain and would despise even if you could.” His head turned
to face the tinted window. “Liam! Bring them in.”

It had to be a dream. Life could
never be so cruel as to have my entire family watching me as I
salivated over a piece of human flesh. But I couldn't deny the
evidence of my eyes as they were pushed through the hidden door from
the viewing room. I could see it in their eyes.
'Monster, that's
what they think of me. I don't blame them.'

“
Please, let them go
free,” I pleaded. I wanted to attack Bruce and end all of this
but it was all I could do to keep myself from moving. The room kept
moving out of focus every time I didn't concentrate. If I let myself
loose there was no telling who I might attack. “Liam, I can
tell you’re human. Why are you helping him!” The
rat-faced blond gave me a murderer's grin in response.

“
Enough whining, child.
You are a predator, they are prey. Their entreaties on your
compassion are just a weapon like anything else, do not allow it
purchase. Fulfill your purpose and free yourself of regret, end your
pointless suffering. Liam will not help you, I have offered him a
chance at immortality once your blood is mature; a conscience would
only hold him back.”

My hands were shaking
uncontrollably, my chin quivering as I fought to maintain my
self-control. “Please don't make me do this, please, I'm
begging you.”

Bruce's arms had nearly dragged
on the ground but no he straightened, looming impossibly tall from
where I knelt on the floor. “I'm not making you do anything, my
pet. But all choices have consequences. Kill him or your family dies,
one by one. Serve me and you will never want for blood or money; you
will find power beyond your wildest dreams. It's your choice to
make.”

“
Peh,” Holly spat
out around her half-loosened gag. “Don't listen to him, he's
crazy! You're not a killer.”

“
I'm crazy?” Bruce
chuckled. “I just told her I'm willing to kill you and she
still hasn't done what I've asked.”

Everything was spinning out of
control. Lights, colors, half formed images, all danced around me to
a tune without melody or rhythm. Words pressed at me that barely made
sense, their meanings so sharp it cut my mind to pieces to hold them
together. And through it all, the relentless pounding of the
captain's heart beside me made my mouth ache with need.

I struck at him like a cobra,
snapping my teeth into his neck. Like liquid fire I felt the blood
race across my tongue, lightning reaching out to dance beneath my
skin. Every ache and pain eased away under its glorious onslaught. At
last, I felt alive again. “...Stop, please stop. Julie, please
don't kill him.” The voice became softer and more desperate as
it continued.
'Holly? What is she talking about? What am I doing?'

“
N-” Blood rushed
into my lungs as I tried to speak. I coughed, blood splattering the
wall like some demonic abstract art piece. “I, I didn't mean
to.” Liam's shadow enveloped me as he approached the captain,
fascinated with the wound.

“
Yes, I can see that,”
replied Bruce.

“
What?” I blinked,
confused.

“
He's not quite dead. And
your time limit is up. If you drank enough, perhaps your blood will
be will have the power to bring your loved ones back from the grave.”
When his hand moved it was slow in comparison to the blur his
movements had been earlier. But try as I might, my body couldn't move
to stop it. Every movement of his hand as it burst through my
father's ribcage etched itself indelibly into my mind as the whole
world fell into silence.
'Dad, you can't die, you can't.'
I
could feel myself screaming, the formidable cry ripping its way
through my vocal cords, could see my sister's mouth open wide and my
mother shout against the gag but it was as if I had gone deaf.

“
No no no no.” It
was too much. I couldn't handle this. I just wanted to curl up and
wait for it to all go away.

A rough voice gasped behind me
as the captain's gag loosened. “Whitman, you bastard.”
The captain wheezed once more, then slumped.

“
Whitman.” The
gears in my mind churned furiously through my memories, absolutely
sure that name was important.

“
It can't be...” I
looked up at him once more. I started in a whisper but my voice
gradually steadied. There was a fury building inside me like water
behind dam built of straw, just waiting to break free. “You're
Alex's brother. Of course you're his brother. How many werewolves
can there be hiding inside a city.”

Bruce laughed, but it was the
laugh of a jackal. “He told me all about you, but I must admit
I didn't believe him at first. To think, the last vampire in the
world, right under my nose.”

“
But no policeman can
afford a yacht,” I continued, as if he had never interrupted.
I sniffed at his scent, catching the same melange of chemicals and
drugs I had before. There was something else, too, the slightest
hint of lilac. “You're a drug lord.” My spine slowly
straightened as my suspicions slowly twisted into a darker rhythm.
“Mature blood, you said. For people like him.” My eyes
stabbed out at Liam. “She rose after all, didn't she.”
A brief hope flowered but it morphed into outrage. This was why the
interrogator hadn't listed Penny as one of my crimes, why she didn't
mention the knife I had left near her body. “You took Penny.
Stole her, stole her blood. For scum like him. Unforgivable.”

I didn't hear the snap of
Liam's neck as I backhanded his head out of the way but I did feel it
– the sickening but satisfying crack that signified the death
of a man that had sought immortality at any price. I read surprise on
Bruce's twisted face as I pounced on him, claws and fangs sinking
into his flesh. Then all I saw was red.

What little skill I had in
martial arts fell apart completely as I fought him like an animal,
slashing at hamstrings and wrists, lunging for his neck with my teeth
only to be repelled time and time again.
‘Faster, I need to
be faster.’
My feet spasmed as the stolen power rushed to
do my bidding. Claws grew rapidly from my toes, feet stretching into
something inhuman. They were the feet of a predator, their grip
against the broken tiles firm and unyielding. Faster and faster I
struck at him, but the pain was building. Wounds healed in seconds
but were replaced twice over, every cut leaking away precious stolen
life before it sealed.

It was no use, he was too
strong. I could feel myself fading. '
I can't protect Holly after
all.'
Memories of the night I
found her flashed in my adrenaline-cooked mind and suddenly a
desperate, foolish thought occurred to me. I spun away from him and
roared.
It wasn't a
roar of anger or pain but instead a message to all those with the
instincts to understand it.

His
voice was even deeper now, his appearance more akin to a giant wolf.
“Have you come to your senses, girl? It's not too
late to save your father. Give him your blood, and he will rise
again.”
Even if that were true, I had no blood left to
give. Though my cuts refused to heal instantaneously as they had
done before, blood had ceased pumping from my veins. Besides, we
were all nearly out of time. What had been a murmur was now thunder,
feet beating the ground with no care for exhaustion or pain. They
were almost here.

The door had become dented and
loose in its frame from our fight. Now it blew open completely.
“
How?”
Beyond
that one word he had no breath to spare for talking. The zombies
swarmed him, always biting, like ants taking down a spider. He threw
one off but even with a broken leg it crawled back into the fray. I
despised myself for it but I felt cruel satisfaction as the puppet
master finally paid his dues.

My claws picked apart the knot
keeping Mom and Holly's legs tied easily enough, despite my hands
shaking enough to churn butter. “Come on, we need to go.”
They were still in shock, as was I, but somehow I managed to lift
them to their feet. Careful not to damage them with my claws I
pulled them through the observation room door that Liam had left
open. I gave one brief glance through the viewing mirror and wished
I hadn't as a red-eye finished off Morris with sadistic glee. Bruce
was somehow still fighting but against so many it was only a matter
of time.

A roar shook the building as we
made for the exit to the hallway. “Behind you!” shouted
Holly.

I spun on my heel, growling as I
lunged at the massive lycan. “Just die already.” My
fist slammed into his snout, blood splattering out as he fell back
into the grasping horde of recently deceased. I held my breath a
moment after locking the door behind him.

“
I smell smoke,”
said Holly, disturbingly impassive.

We weren't out of danger yet.
The hallways smelled of iron and sewage and brimstone as we navigated
our way through the slaughterhouse. There was no time to find a
normal exit. I had never had much chance to examine the station in
the first place, and the smoke was rapidly thickening. “Here.”
I pulled them into a side office and on instinct spun and shut the
door behind us.

A
rotter slammed into the door nearly before the latch clicked shut.
“
Uuunnh!
”
Its filmy white eyes stared at us through the window, jaws dripping
saliva as it gnashed at the glass. It reared its head back–

“
Down!”
We thumped to the floor as shards of glass coated with infected
blood flew through the air overhead. I scooted away as the rotter
reached an arm through the broken door window to grab for my hair.
The hand reached for Holly next but this was enough to shock her into
action. Grabbing Mom she kicked away from the door and sprang to her
feet. “Over here,” I called. It hurt my heart to notice
that they hesitated a moment before doing so. I wondered if they
would have approached me at all if not for the threat of the rotter.
'
This isn't the time.'
I used what little remained of my blood-fueled strength to kick at
the grate blocking the window, my third strike sending it spinning
into the side street.

The pair of them were coughing
continuously as I lowered them to the street below. With a slight
wince at my injuries I jumped out after them, clawed feet grasping at
the soil as I landed. Mom collapsed to her knees twenty yards from
the station just as flames started to roar from the higher levels.
Sirens drew my gaze, two cop cars with the symbol for a neighboring
precinct turning into the front lot as I tried to process everything
that had happened. Almost unbelievably, we were safe. What zombies
survived the fire would swiftly be put down as more and more police
and military reinforcements arrived. The incident would be contained
like so many others since the formation of the Republic.

Dad had died... but Holly was
safe. The bruises I saw on her face made me want to cry.

“
Holly, Mom, I–”
I had nothing to say so like a coward I ran instead.

“
Julie, wait!”
called Holly. I couldn't. It was dangerous to be around me now. I
couldn't bear it if my screw-ups ever hurt her like this again. I
turned a corner and kept running, deeper into the shadows as the land
dipped into the earth.

The sunset was beautiful, clouds
like orange and scarlet horses in the sky, though it pained my eyes
to look at it.
‘Could I have done things differently?
Found one of the vampire hunters Alex mentioned or kept Fred awake
long enough to explain? Killed that wretch Liam when he first handed
me the letter? There must have been something I missed, some clue
that could have stopped everything.’
The horror of killing
two men felt so small against everything else.
‘I’ll
mourn them when I forget what they did, not before.’
But
I had killed Morris as well, hadn't I, even if it wasn't done
entirely by my own hands. Killed Dad from not acting soon enough.

One thought surfaced above the
turmoil that tore at my heart, finally rising and pushing into
speech. “I wish it would rain.” The droplets came then,
ice against my feverish skin. It fit my mood, but I knew it could
never wash away the blood. I could feel the life-giving fluid
sinking through my skin, body still hungry for it despite my wishes.
I licked my lips, shivering as a trickle of life energy entered my
core. I was unclean.

I jumped up the levels of a fire
escape, rain battering me as I stood at the building's summit. Then
I was moving, practically flying as my mutated feet propelled me over
the rooftops. Claws bit into stone and wood with equal force,
driving me faster and faster. Wind swept over me and I let myself
fall into the sensation, pushing my thoughts into a dark cellar of my
mind. All too soon I was forced to slow, the hollow, dead feeling in
my chest growing heavier as my stolen energy burned away. Dropping
to the street I watched in disgusted fascination as my feet warped
back to normal or close to it. My toenails were a pearlescent black,
but they were at least shaped like a human's. After a moment of
silence I began to walk, not yet sure of where I would go. The gloom
gathered rapidly but I no longer feared the night. I was part of it.