Frenzy (The Frenzy Series Book 1) (21 page)

“You bit
her
back, or you bit her
back
?”

“I bit her arm. The venom changed me faster than she could drain me, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

“What happened to her – the vamp that bit you?”

He shrugged. “I killed her.”

“You tore her head off?” I asked.

“No, there’s another way to kill a vampire.” Interesting.

I stared at the water. “How?”

“Drain them.”

My eyes widened and locked on his. “You drained her? And then she died?”

“That’s pretty much it. Most of it was sort of hazy. I think I tore her apart afterward, but her heart had already stopped by that time.”

I gasped. “I always heard that vampires didn’t have a heartbeat, but I’ve felt it.”

“Do you know why a vampire feeds on human blood?”

“No, but I know they can feed on animals. Why don’t they just do that – live off the blood of animals?”

“Because they would die. It’s part of the curse.”

“Curse?” I didn’t understand.

Tage hesitated. I looked behind us, up onto the river bank above our heads. “There’s no one there. I’d hear them.”

I reveled in the warmth of his sweater. “Your hearing is more acute?”

“Much. And I stay warm as long as I feed. We just wear warm clothes to blend in. Hot and cold don’t really affect us at all.”

“Why are you telling me all of this? Isn’t it forbidden or something?”

He smiled. “Probably. Don’t really know. Don’t really care.” Tage tilted his head and looked at me.

“Oh! I get it. It’s pity, right? Well.” I straightened myself. “You can save it for someone else. I’m fine.”

He shook his head. “No you’re not, but one day you will be. You need to steer clear of Roman and stick close to Saul.”

“I know, but how?”

“Haven’t figured that out yet,” he admitted.

We both agreed, then. I was screwed.

When I finished washing the last dress, Tage volunteered to wring them out for me. It took one minute to finish his part, where it would have taken me twenty. I shook my head and gathered the damp fabric into my arms. “Oh, I need to give you back your sweater.”

“Keep it. Looks good on you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Who are you goading, Tage? Saul or Roman?”

He laughed. “Roman.”

“That’s not smart, Tage.”

“Never claimed to be. I’ll walk you home. Give me the clothes. You’re already soaked.”

“I’m fine.”

He held his arms out petulantly. Grumbling, I relented and handed the pile to him. “If you want to freeze, that’s fine by me.”

Tage grinned at me. “You’re welcome, kitten.”

“Why do you call me that?”

“Because you’re tame and cute, but seem to be hiding some sharp claws beneath the furry paws.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever,” I muttered. I wasn’t tame and I sure as hell wasn’t a kitty cat.

The colonists were up and about when we started toward Mrs. Dillinger’s house. They stopped their chores and stared at Tage and me, at the bite marks still marring my neck. That was when the whispers began.

“Night-walker.” “Get inside.” And, “What’s that girl thinking, bringing him onto our side?”

The Elders were mentioned. The treaty was mentioned. Tage was visibly tense. “Maybe I should go.”

He wasn’t even doing anything. Actually, he was. Tage was helping to carry my wet laundry, and if they couldn’t see past their fear, then it was their problem. “Too weak to carry a woman’s load?” I teased, wagging my eyebrows at him. Frigid gusts of wind plastered the wet fabric of my skirts to my legs. I really didn’t want to carry the wet stuff home, and I honestly thought my neighbors would have been more understanding.

“I’m not afraid, I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“From whom?”

“The Elders,” he replied.

I laughed. “What more could they possibly do to me?”

“Kick you out of the Colony,” he whispered.

“They won’t.”

“Tensions are high. You don’t know what they would do.” Tage stopped, handing the soggy bundle over. Part of me hated that he was giving up, but the other part of me appreciated his concern.

“Thank you…for everything.” He was the most confusing creature I’d ever met. I watched him walk quickly back to his side of town, head down in defeat, and part of my heart broke with him.

He hadn’t been a night-walker for long at all. He wasn’t used to this life, and he didn’t ask for it. I wondered if he regretted biting the vamp. Now that he’d tasted eternal life, did he crave the empty solace of death?

The concrete of the road was settling and slipping into the soft earth in places, looking like rippling rivers of flowing stone. I stepped carefully over the bumps, making my way to Mrs. Dillinger’s. She was on the porch waiting for me when I stepped onto her walk. “Oh, thank God you’re okay!” Wringing her hands, she hugged me so tightly I dropped the clothes. I responded by awkwardly patted her back.

“I did the wash,” I told her as she strangled me.

“Please tell me when you leave. Things in the Colony are dangerous, and I…” she pled.

“Okay.”

“You haven’t heard?” She steadied herself with my arms. “Two people are dead. An elderly man and his wife. Murdered in their home this morning. Their necks, oh Porschia. They had bite marks. The Elders are telling everyone to stay inside, but we aren’t even safe in our own homes now.”

“They had wounds? But I watched the night-walkers go back home this morning. It doesn’t make sense, Mrs. Dillinger.”

“Maggie, dear. We’re beyond formalities.”

“Maggie, I watched them go home.” I shook my head. Something wasn’t right. It couldn’t have been the night-walkers that were left. Could it be someone new, or one of the ones they thought had fled?

“Couldn’t they come back? Aren’t they fast?”

I nodded. “They are fast, but something isn’t right about this.”

From the street came the pounding of footprints. “Porschia?”

Ford came running up the walk. He almost tackled me, but I stepped away from Mrs…Maggie in time. He didn’t hit her. His momentum alone would have knocked her over. “I hate this! I never know if you’re okay or not.”

“I’m fine, Ford, but you can’t keep doing the things you’re doing.” He knew what I meant, and though Maggie narrowed her eyes at him, she didn’t pry.

“It’s nothing.”

“Don’t tell me it’s nothing. If you’re caught you’ll be banished, and you wouldn’t survive, Ford—not out there.”

I stared him down until he looked away. I wasn’t exaggerating or playing games. Mercedes wasn’t in the Colony anymore. I didn’t want to lose Ford, too.

“Maggie, can I walk with Ford for a few minutes?”

“You don’t have to ask permission, dear. I was just worried,” she said.

“We’ll be back soon.”

Maggie shooed us away and I shut the door behind him. My dress was still wet and although normally I would have changed, something in Ford’s eyes told me he needed me. “What’s wrong?”

He scrubbed the back of his neck. “I have to help dig the graves.”

“Okay.”

“Listen,” he said. “Don’t go near the river alone.”

“The people today were killed in their homes. What does the river have to do with it?”

He hesitated, pursing his lips until they were thin slices of flesh. “Just stay away from it!” Ford never yelled at me, not since he’d grown taller than I had.

I grabbed his elbow. “What is
wrong
with you?”

“Just for once in your life, listen to me, Porschia. I don’t want you near the water.”

My baby brother stepped off the porch and stalked away. He would be digging deep holes in the earth, helping lower the bodies of our fallen neighbors. But what secrets were eating away at him, weighing down the skin beneath his eyes?

Mr. White, the elderly man who lived nearest to Mrs. Dillinger—Maggie—knocked on our door a few hours later. Worrying the edges of his hat, he shifted his feet on the porch planks, making them creak and groan. “Burials will begin within the hour. I was sent to tell everyone on the street.”

Maggie thanked him and told me to start bundling up. It was frigid. The air that swirled into the room when I opened the door for Mr. White was marrow-chilling. “It’s going to snow. I can feel it in my knees.”

I didn’t know what knees had to do with the weather, but it was certainly cold enough to flurry. Upstairs, I pulled on Mercedes’ coat and then Ford’s pants beneath my skirts. Another layer would help. I wore both pairs of my socks and laced my boots up tight to keep the warmth in.

“Let your hair down. It’ll help guard your ears,” Maggie said as she waited at the bottom of the step. “I don’t think I can make it to the cemetery.”

“I know. No one will think anything of it.”

“They will, but there’s nothing they can do about it. My body is giving out. Simple as that.”

I wished she was wrong. Feeling her arms wrap around me in a warm hug, I patted her shoulder and pulled away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She smiled. “I’ll start supper, but I know you’ll be eating with Saul tonight.”

Butterflies flapped wildly in my stomach. I was going to meet his family.

“They’ll love you, Porschia. Don’t worry yourself over that.”

Easier said than done. I stepped onto the porch and pulled the door closed, locking myself and the cold outside. People were already leaving their homes or walking toward the cemetery. Most nodded, a few waved, but no one spoke to me. Some refused to even look in my direction. I tucked my hands into the silk-lined pockets of my coat and balled my fists. Flurries of snow swirled in the air. Tiny crystalline flakes got caught in my web of dark hair and slowly melted away, replaced by new ones.

When I was close, Saul found me, his hand wrapping around mine. “Hey,” he greeted, giving a comforting squeeze.

“Hi.”

“My mom is excited about dinner.”

I smiled. “I’m scared.”

His brows furrowed. “Why? They’ll love you.”