The Children of the Sun (47 page)

“She’s not going to—” Two began, and Thomas cut her off.

“Two, relax. He’s not saying she will. Your boy’s just the kind of guy who thinks about all the angles, and until she comes back, one of the angles is definitely that she’s still working for the Children.”

“But you told her about the password anyway,” Two said.

“That’s right.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“More dangerous than what I’ve already done? Sweetheart, you’re not the only one working for an organization that swings the death penalty stick around like a psychotic four-year-old on a sugar high. If I hadn’t told her, she would’ve killed you first, him second, and me third, and anyway … it’s not like I’m guessing about what’s in there. I read it myself. If she decides she’s still a big fan of the Emperor after reading that shit, well, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Two considered this for a while, chewing on her bottom lip. Theroen was watching her and Thomas was staring again at the door. She was about to speak when she saw Theroen cock his head to the left, frowning.

“That was a scream,” he said.

“You sure?” Two asked.

“Reasonably,” Theroen said. “We can ask in a moment.”

“We what? How—” Two’s question was cut off by the sound of footsteps moving toward them, not quite at a run but definitely hurried. There was another buzzing, clunking noise as the door to their cell unlatched, and Tori walked back into the room.

“When is the attack?” she asked, looking directly at Two, and for a moment Two had no idea what the woman was talking about. Then she realized, and found herself stammering.

“The … uh, I mean …”

“Two, cut the bullshit. I know an attack is coming. Someone very talented broke in and corrupted all of our video feeds hours ago. That’s how you got down as far as you did. Well, and because I let you.”

“You did what?” Theroen asked her, and Tori gave him a grim smile.

“Before he died, Charles Porter once told me that I was something more than a human. He told me I was something better, and he was right. Our people missed that the lock on the roof was broken from the inside, but I didn’t. I found it days ago. Someone broke out of the building and we’ve had no missing prisoners. Conclusion? A spy or stowaway of some sort. They must have been good, to get past the cameras.”

“But why?” Two asked.

“The Children’s response to discovery is to run and hide, covering their tracks as best they can. That’s not my forte and never was. I wanted my shot at you before they were alerted to danger.”

“You knew Theroen and I were going to come all along, then,” Two said, and Tori shook her head.

“I knew someone would come, but not who. I was expecting more than two of you, but I wasn’t counting on this. You two really aren’t here for the Children, or even for the Emperor. You’re here for me.”

Two nodded. “That’s right.”

Tori shook her head, a look of angry disgust on her face. “Do you know how fucking
stupid
that is?”

Two considered this for a moment and then shrugged. “I don’t give a shit.”

“You left me in Ohio. You dumped me on my parents and took off, and after that I was lucky if you even answered your emails, let alone your phone. You abandoned me, and it cost my parents their lives, and now you want to waltz in and … what?”

“I wanted to save you,” Two told her. “Tori, I wanted to … to help you.”

“Who says I need your help?!” Tori shouted. “Who says I need anything from you at all? Don’t you understand what you’ve done?!”

Two felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, and tears sprung to her eyes. She was quiet for a moment, trying to find the words to express herself. Tori watched her, jaw clenched. Finally, Two spoke.

“I know exactly what I’ve done,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I know who I am, and I know all of the terrible shit I’ve put people through. I did lots of things without ever thinking about the consequences. When I met you I was just a stupid kid, and I didn’t think about how the things I was doing could hurt you.

“I brought you home because I knew your parents missed you, and I knew that as your memory came back, you were missing them, too. I don’t regret bringing you there, but leaving you like that and just fucking off into my own little world? I’m never going to ask you to forgive me for it because I don’t expect you to. I don’t
want
you to.”

“Then what do you want from me?” Tori demanded. “Am I supposed to give you a hug and tell you everything’s going to be rainbows and unicorns from now on? Is that how this is supposed to go? What do you
want
?!”

Two looked down at the ground and then back up at Tori. She could feel tears on her cheeks now, and she brushed them aside with one hand.

“I want you to be safe. I want you to be free. Even if it means I can’t be your friend anymore, I want you to be able to live your own life, however you want to live it.”

“What if I want to live my life by hunting down vampires and murdering them?” Tori cried. “What if that’s what I was made to do?”

“Then fucking do it!” Two shouted back. She lunged forward, forgetting the chain on her ankle, and very nearly fell flat on her face. She regained her balance and glared at Tori. “Do it! But don’t do it for these people who’ve done nothing but
lie
to you at every step. Do it for you!”

Tori was quiet for a time, staring at Two, her jaw clenched tight. Two looked back, refusing to break eye contact. If the time for her death had come, she would go to it standing as tall as her five-foot-two frame would allow.

“The attack’s at midnight,” she said. “There’s about three hundred and fifty of them, mostly Ay’Araf and Burilgi. Theroen and I are supposed to open the garage doors, but they’ll break their way in if they have to. Either we finish this or we lose the war and scatter. One way or the other, it ends tonight.”

Tori took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out.

“Then I guess we don’t have much time,” she said, and she unsheathed her swords. She strode forward, and Two found herself grasping for something to say and finding nothing. All of her attention was focused on those twin blades.

Tori brought the sword in her right hand up above her head, and Two felt an overwhelming urge to leap backward. Then a voice – she was not sure whether it was her own – spoke at the back of her mind.

Show her you believe
, the voice said, and Two clenched her teeth, stiffened her back and stood straight up, staring Tori in the eye.
You’re not going to kill me
, she thought.

Meeting her gaze, Tori brought the blade down in a slashing motion so powerful it shrieked as it cut through the air. Two recognized the sound from her time training with Jakob and knew that the weapon was moving with such speed and force that it could easily cut through bone. If the blow was aimed at her head or neck, she was going to die.

But it wasn’t, and she had known it wasn’t from the moment that her friend had begun her swing. Instead, the blade sliced through the air at her side and came down against the chain that was latched to her ankle. There was an ear-splitting noise as one of the links shattered, and Two felt shrapnel pass by her face, but she kept her eyes on Tori. The former vampire turned to look at her.

“I thought for sure you’d flinch,” she said, and she gave a savage grin.

“What, and give you the satisfaction?” Two asked, amazed to find that she was smiling as well. “Not a fucking chance.”

“If you ladies are … about …
done
!” Theroen snarled, and on the last word he kicked his bound leg forward with all of his strength. The chain held, but the loop through which it was attached to the shackle did not. The piece of metal snapped at its welded joints and flew away, bouncing off the nearby cell wall and falling to the floor with a clatter.

“Holy shit …” Tori muttered.

Two laughed a little. “I was wondering when he was going to do that.”

“It took all of my willpower not to do it when Tori went at you with that blade,” Theroen said. “Now, I do not know about the rest of you, but I have had about all I can take of this cell. If you do not mind, Tori, we have a set of loading bay doors to open. I trust from your actions that you have at least determined which side is in the right?”

“I don’t give a shit about your sides,” Tori said, her grim demeanor now reasserting itself. “It turns out that the man for whom I’ve been killing all this time is the one who ordered my parents’ execution. I’m going to cut his throat, and I’m going to pull his whole fucking organization down around his head.”

“I support this plan,” Theroen told her, and Tori gave him a scoffing laugh.

“I don’t care. I know what you’re expecting … you came to save me and you want me to thank you for that, but I never asked to be saved. I don’t want your help. I can do this myself.”

“Tori, come on,” Two said, and Tori whirled on her.

“What, Two, do you think everything’s settled between us? It wasn’t your people who killed my parents, so it’s just fine that you left me there to go crazy alone?”

“Nothing about what I did was fine,” Two said. “What do you mean, ‘go crazy’?”

“There’s still something inside me that needs to hunt. Abraham’s blood gave that to me, or brought it out of me … I don’t know which. Just because he died and I turned back into something that looks like a human doesn’t mean it’s gone. It’s still there, and every day that went by after you left, it got a little bit stronger. The craving got worse and worse until it started to get hard to stand.

“I didn’t know what to do, so I tried to kill it with booze and sex and cigarettes. I tried everything I could think of to keep from remembering how it felt to bring down my prey and feel their blood splash all over me. Nothing worked, and it was eating me alive. That’s why I left my parents there. I had to get out …. It seemed like the whole house was collapsing in on me. That’s why I wasn’t there to protect them. That’s why they’re dead.”

“Oh, Tori …” Two began, but she stopped, not knowing how to apologize for what she’d done without having known she was doing it.

“I know you want this to be a wonderful reunion,” Tori said. “I know you want everything to be like it was before, and there’s a part of me that wants that too … but there’s another part of me that’s still so fucking angry at you for leaving. You unleashed this … this
thing
on the world, and then you just took off. I needed help and you weren’t there. Who else was I supposed to turn to? When Charles came and told me about the Children, he offered me not just a chance for revenge but the chance to feed that thing inside of me. How could I tell him no?”

Two shook her head. “I wouldn’t have said ‘no’ either. Tori, I didn’t know that you were going through all of this, but I’m sorry. I’d take it back if I could, but I can’t. All I can tell you is that I’m not the person I was when all of this started.”

“That makes two of us,” Tori muttered, glancing down at the blades in her hands.

“You said you want to tear down everything the Emperor has built,” Theroen said. “You want to put an end to this whole corrupt society of zealots. Is that true? Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” Tori told him.

“Then help us do it,” Theroen said. “There are three hundred and fifty vampires amassing outside this building right now. We have but to open the floodgates and they will come pouring forth. Help us get to the top floor and open those doors, and you have my word that we will help you take the battle directly to the Emperor.”

Thomas spoke for the first time since Tori’s return. “There are good people in this place, Captain. Good people who are going to die if you let those things in here.”

“‘Things,’ Thomas?” Two asked. “Do you really still believe that bullshit? Is that what I am to you? What about Naomi? Just
things
?”

Thomas wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Doesn’t change my point.”

“There were good people at the Ay’Araf club,” Theroen said, his voice measured. There was no judgment in his eyes. If anything, Two thought she saw pity there. “There were good people at the cathedral your Emperor ordered burned to the ground. Many of those who were shot or stabbed or blown to bits never took a single human life, and more than one of them were champions for peace and understanding.”

“So what then, an eye for an eye?” Thomas asked. “My friends have to die because your friends did?”

“They could retreat,” Theroen said. “Tell me, if we gave them the chance to surrender, would they take it? Would
you
have taken it, if even six months ago Naomi had come to you with outstretched arms and an offer of peace?”

Thomas looked away, frowning. “I have no fuckin’ idea.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tori said, and with three swift strides she had reached Thomas’s side. Before he could say anything she had brought her blade down, and the chain that had been attached to Thomas’s ankle split apart. He was left staring at Tori in surprise.

“If you want to alert them, then go do it,” she told him. “I don’t care. The best chance your friends have is to realize the tide has turned. If they have any sense in their heads, they’ll get the fuck out of Dodge while they can. I’ll carve my way through every single person that stands between me and the Emperor, and you know it.”