Friction (The Frenzy Series Book 4) (7 page)

Back at the temporary dwelling, Porschia was crouched beside Roman. His sleeves and pant legs were rolled up and with a swath of damp fabric, she rubbed his skin.

Tage growled, his eyes fixated on the sight of Porschia kneeling beside Roman. I didn’t blame the guy.

“Shut up, Tage. His fever is way too high; I’m only trying to bring it down. It’s what we used to do for Ford.”

“Well I don’t like it,” Tage snapped. “You’re touching him.”

“You don’t have to like it, but you
do
have to deal with it. I’m not going to let him die!”

What did she even care? Why would it matter if Roman died? He was human. Humans got sick, and some died from the illnesses that afflicted them. It was natural. Mostly. I mean, young people didn’t often die, but he was a good deal older than he looked. Maybe time was finally catching up with him. Maybe after a night-walker turned back into a human, they aged quickly, catching back up to the place they would have been if they hadn’t turned in the first place.

Two knocks at the door announced Garreth’s arrival. “How’s he doing?” he asked, ducking inside. “Is his fever rising again?” He knelt beside Porschia.

“He’s cooling off now,” she said softly. “Somewhat.”

Garreth looked over Roman’s body, his hand hovering a few inches above Roman’s forehead. “The cool water helps the body, although in this overheated state it feels awful. If he were conscious he’d think you were killing him, but it’s necessary. To be strengthened, we must all endure pain.”

Indeed.

Garreth waited with us as Roman’s temperature continued to normalize. Mercedes slipped back inside with a few small containers. She looked to me. “It was all they could spare.”

“It’ll be enough.”

Garreth spoke up. “You’ll get a ration of the meat you provided as well. Don’t let them exclude you, because given the chance, they will.”

And exactly who were we going to speak with about sharing the spoils of the hunt?

Tage stood up. “What’s going on here? Why are there no vampires? I thought Roman said you had an agreement with some similar to Blackwater’s treaty.”

“There was never any treaty; only a handshake and a nod, but that wasn’t enough, it seems.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“There were two that lived here among us humans. One, a male, disappeared. The female stopped hunting, locked herself inside her dwelling, and refused to come out. No one knew what to think of her behavior, but then she disappeared altogether. When someone went to check on her, she was gone. Vanished.”

“Is that why people are so distrusting of the female night-walkers?” Porschia asked.

Garreth turned to her, eyes narrowed. “Why would you say that?”

“At the well, some humans were visibly terrified by my presence. A woman even warned her child about how dangerous we were, especially the females.”

Garreth dropped his large head onto his chest. “The vampire who lived here came back one night with some of her new friends.”

“Friends?” Tage asked.

“All female. She and two others began tearing a bloody path around the mountain. They compelled their way inside. With beautiful faces and dresses to match, at first people invited them into their homes. That was until they began feeding and draining their children right in front of them. Apparently they preferred the blood of the young. In the end, no one was safe. They drained one third of our population in only a few hours.”

“Frenzy?” Tage asked Porschia, who shrugged in response.

“How’d you stop them?” I asked.

“We couldn’t. They fed as they pleased, took what they wanted, and then compelled seven more to leave with them. So you can see why we’d be frightened that you are here.” He turned to Porschia. “Especially
you
.”

Her lips parted. “I do understand.” She clutched her chest and sat back on her legs. “I can’t even imagine.”

“It left a scar on the survivors. They will never forget watching the children die, the flames from our torches flickering wildly as the light in their wide, innocent eyes went out,” Garreth said quietly as his eyes became unfocused.

“We need to help you set up a defense,” Roman mumbled, his lips so dry they stuck together as he formed the words.

Porschia nodded to Tage, who asked Garreth, “Do you know the belladonna plant? It can help slow them down, but you need weaponry as well.”

Garreth shook his head. “I don’t think anything can save us if that happens again.”

“Garreth, we came here for a reason,” Porschia offered.

“What’s that?”

“There’s a cure for both the Infection and vampirism.”

The behemoth’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

Roman groaned. “She’s serious.”

Garreth’s hands shook as he clasped his chest and I narrowed my eyes when the realization dawned on me. “Someone you know is cursed.”

The giant nodded. “Someone very special to me. Please tell me everything you know.”

So we did. We told him that the cure resided within each curse, and for the first time, I believed in inflicting that cure on someone without their permission. The female night-walkers who tore through this town without mercy deserved to have their power taken away. They deserved to feel what it was like to be utterly defenseless before we killed them. And if I figured out who they were, that was exactly what would happen. We just needed an Infected or three to provide some blood.

Garreth was as amazed as we were that there was a cure for both plagues upon humanity, but he soon realized the same thing we did: there would be some who wouldn’t
want
to be made human again. Some people lost their humanity over time and with some humans, I questioned whether they had it to begin with.

I walked him outside and he turned to me. “You’re only passing through, then?”

Nodding to him, I turned toward the door of the dwelling. “Some of them would like to stay.”

“Temporarily?” Garreth asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Maybe longer,” I replied with a smile.

“I’ll speak with the council on their behalf, though they’ll want to hear directly from those who wish to stay permanently. Where are you going next?”

“Roman said there was another settlement to the northeast.”

Garreth nodded. “There is The Glen. The Manor is close to it.” He whispered to me: “Even
you
should be careful on the next leg of your journey. I think that the women who were with the one who used to live among us, who attacked us, came from The Manor.”

Roman had said the same thing. He said not to approach The Manor without him, but what good could he do? If the women at The Manor were so dangerous, we couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. They would attack again. It was only a matter of time. They would get hungry. They enjoyed brutalizing Mountainside, tearing apart the families. They enjoyed pain. And they would soon know it themselves.

“I’ll be careful. Thank you for everything, Garreth.”

“You’ll choose to be human again after you spread the word?” he asked.

I swallowed. Roman had also warned me not to tell anyone what I was. I smiled slightly. “Of course. It’s just safer this way for now.”

Garreth’s sharp eyes fastened on my face and I felt my cheeks heat under his scrutiny. “I suppose it would be.”

I thumbed toward the dwelling. “Tage and I will hunt again tonight. We’ll bring larger animals back for Mountainside, and if the council would like, we can hunt again upon our return. Blackwater is your friend and we represent our Colony well.”

“Thank you. I’ll pass the word along. And good luck on your hunt. We haven’t seen large game in quite some time.”

I smiled. “You’re on the council, aren’t you?”

This time Garreth grinned. “I am.”

The dwelling was wonderful for Roman to rest inside, but for the rest of us, the quarters were cramped. Saul and Mercedes were too much for me to deal with. His eyes were always pleading, and Mercedes’ permanent scowl was annoying. Each of them had issues with and beyond me to work through. I was done.

After being cured of the Infection, Mercedes had been all sisterly for a time before becoming angry with me again. All I did was bite and save her from rotting into a thousand putrid pieces of herself. Her problem, I thought, was that she was angry because I wouldn’t forgive Saul. He was no doubt telling her how awful I was to him, but they could both go straight to hell.

I watched as the sun set in shades of fire and ash. Mercedes stepped outside holding a frying pan, the bottom covered in slices of potatoes and carrots with beans scattered between the circles of vegetables. It wouldn’t be enough for us three, though Roman likely wouldn’t eat. Two would still feel hunger soon after eating it. “Garreth is going to bring your portions of meat, I think.”

She nodded. “That would be good.”

Silence wrapped around us as the spring wind whipped strands of our light and dark hair back and forth, interweaving them with tendrils of gray smoke. The burning wood was too much. I walked away down the path, leaving Mercedes behind, but I heard her call for Tage. After he stepped outside with her, she told him, “She’s leaving.”

“It’s the fire,” he said softly. He knew. I didn’t know how, but he knew I couldn’t stomach it. My stomach churned violently and when I came to the end of the lane, my head tingled and my vision was overtaken by a swarm of black dots. “Hands on your knees. It’s behind you,” Tage said, rubbing my low back. “Let it pass.”

I tried to focus on the blades of grass, the smooth pebbles along the path and the rough ones just beyond it. He stayed with me, soothing and calming me until it was over.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, lacing his fingers through mine.

Music to my ears.

We went deep into the unfamiliar forest before the sickening feeling subsided and before we found any wildlife worth taking down. Large game would feed Mountainside for days, so we searched for it far and wide. Tage was careful to strike fast and take down the buck before it used his antlers on us as spears.

“We can leave him here and come back,” Tage said, wiping the blood from his chin, panting from exertion. My God, that sight would never get old. He was strong, virile, and bloody, and he smelled so good.

“I wish I had a camera for you,” he said, snapping me out of my daze.

“What they used to take pictures with?”

“Yeah,” he grinned. “If you took a picture of me, you might stop staring and drooling...”

I rolled my eyes.

“We need more meat. Where
is
everything?”

“Overhunting?” he asked.

“Not by Mountainside.”

The smell of decay hit me as soon as his scream did. A shrill but masculine scream came from across a small creek. The Infected stumbled down the hill, righting himself as he splashed through the water. Tage stood up and moved in front of me.

“Can he be saved?” I asked, trying to move around him. Tage blocked me.

“Something’s not right with him.” The Infected man’s shoulders twitched uncontrollably.

“Duh, he’s Infected.” And he smelled like rancid meat and sweat.

Tage shook his head. “He’s also very pissed off. Stay behind me.”