“Then… are you saying it wasus?” William tries to keep his face neutral, but I’m sure my own expression must be slack-mouthed and wide-eyed. “Why would we do such a thing to ourselves?”
Nate crosses his arms, making his biceps bigger. “How is it you know so little of what happened?”
William doesn’t speak. It’s almost as if he’s lost in his memories.
“If you want answers, you’re going to have to give some,” Nate warns. “We can take you with us to meet others, but first, you should know we don’t mess with Familiars anymore. They can’t be compelled, and there’s too much technology that would make them a threat.”
William locks eyes with me, and I’m sure he’s thinking of the same thing.
My video.
“When you start a meal, you finish it,” says Cisco, looking at me with hungry eyes. “And then you get rid of the corpse.”
I feel the blood draining from my face.
“Kill her, then we’ll explain everything,” says Nate.
William looks at me, and I know that anything can happen now. All along, he’s been teetering on the verge of ending my life, and the only thing that’s held him back is my company. But he’s not alone anymore. He doesn’t need me.
“My Familiar is performing a task,” says William, sounding unmoved, as if they were asking him to squish a fly. “You do not have to worry about her. Should she fail me, I know how to find her—and everyone she loves.”
Meeting my eyes, he commands, “Leave us.Now.”
“No—”
“Lorena.” His eyes grow large in warning, and I hold my breath at the deliberate way he says my name. As if it has multiple meanings.
Includinggoodbye.
“GO!”
I inhale sharply, like I’m short of air. Then my legs carry me away as fast as they can, and I never look back.
PART TWOthe break
CHAPTER 27william
The three vampires move swiftly through the trees, faster than any forest animal. The physical exertion is the only thing keeping William’s mind from imploding.
Just seconds ago, he thought himself the lone vampire in the world and was resigned to being a high school student with only his Familiar for an ally. Now he is about to join a secret vampiric society, and Huntington is already in the past.
He stumbles on a rock, which is rare for an immortal. It means he is losing energy. “How much farther?” he asks. William has consumed too little blood since awakening, and if he does not have more soon, his body could collapse on him and force a state of death-sleep.
“We’re almost to the train station,” says Nate, glancing at William’s feet like he can tell the latter is struggling.
William does not want to admit weakness, so he tries to engage them in conversation in hopes of slowing them down. “How long have you been awake?”
As they are surrounded by trees, he imagines it is safe to speak freely here.
“Forty-four years for me,” says Cisco, and to William’s relief, the brawny vampire slows to converse. “My coffin was found on a sunken ship. You should have seen the face on that coroner when I came to on the dissectiontable!” He punches William on the shoulder, confirming that even his playful touches are painful.
“Fifty-six,” says Nate. “A construction crew found me buried under the foundation of a house they were renovating. I was so weak that I had to compel them to sit in silence while I drank my way through them.”
“What about the Treaty?”
Nate stops moving, and Cisco falls in line next to him. William is glad for the break.
“What’s your name?” asks Nate.
