Page 24 of Before We Burn

My hands trail the desk, touching the papers and scattered notes. The soft smell of flowers fills my senses, and I can’t help but close my eyes. Flashes of a life I used to have—one I thought was made up—play behind my lids.

A field of yellow flowers, a woman's laugh, and my father holding my hand. I tried to run to the woman laughing, fought as hard as I could, but my dad shook his head, telling me to watch. I stopped my fussing and patiently watched as the woman squatted down, the flowers shielding her from my eyes, then⁠—

BANG.

My eyes peel open, and standing in front of me is a small, dark-skinned girl. Her doe eyes meet mine, bright and wild. Slowly her fangs drop, and a wicked smile appears on her face.

“My name’s Bunny!” she chimes.

I can’t find the strength to answer. A vampire just came from outside into the house with no issues. But I can’t find one escape route.

“You know she’s going to hate you,” she says again, the black veins in her face slowly subsiding while her fangs disappear. “You have to ride it out, though. We need you.” She looks down at her feet in a shameful, childlike manner.

“Need me for what?” I ask gently, fear leaking out of my voice, and she snorts.

“Stay and find out.”

In a blink of an eye she’s gone, and I’m rightfully scared out of my mind. I trained for months to get to a place where I could look a vampire in the face and feel nothing. I’ve killed hundreds of them and seen the mess they leave after feeding. But these vampires—Marzana and Bunny—are different, and not in a good way.

I run downstairs as fast as I can, making sure I close and lock the basement door. My heart races as I begin to pace.

Why didn’t Bunny attack me? What did she mean when she said ‘she’ll’ hate me? The questions begin to pile up, and there are no answers in sight.

I’m about to put my hand on my gun in its holster and hit my thinking pose when I realize she took it from me. She hid my guns somewhere… Somewhere here.

A little spark of hope fuels my craze-filled idea, and I begin tearing her room apart. If she wants to keep me here, fine. I’ll stay.

But once I find my weapon, we’ll see who’s the prisoner.

11

PROPAGANDA

MARZANA

My love for Constantine has never been tested until now. I told her everything that happened at the academy—told her about the UV darts instead of bullets—and she just shrugged.

“Humans want the power they fear other people possess. Are you surprised?” She says it with a bored, dragged out tone that’s about to cause me to flip over the table where we sit.

Connie lives how vampires used to—in a cave-turned-home—far away from society so no one can bother her. She feeds on random strangers who take strolls in the woods—the few who think vampires are no longer a threat because their government has brainwashed them into thinking we are controllable.

I think because she lives this way, she has lost all touches of her humanity. Her care goes as far as her personal gain, and I can’t be mad at her for it. She’s tried for hundreds of years to remedy this war—to get the council to see her point—but nothing prevailed.

“Connie, please. I need to have someone grant me an audience with the Council of Five so we can get the Bloodlings back, and maybe even find out what the humans were doing with them in the first place.” I’m pleading. Something I know I’m above but need to stoop to, because what the humans are doing is not normal. They would never attack the school without help.

“This could possibly end with you killing Alexander. Isn’t that incentive enough?” Connie’s brows raise, a smile even I’m afraid of appearing as she leans over the table, watching me carefully.

“Let’s say I entertain this idea. We would need proof the humans are doing something deplorable. Then—” I groan, and she stops for a moment, her face full of shock. “I’m sorry, am I boring you?” She leans back in her chair, aggravation flickering in her eyes, and I push my pride to the side to shake my head.

“Let’s get this straight, Marz, ya? I am the only one that holds this information, because the people who do know how to get in contact with the council have slowly been killed off or jailed. I am the only chance those precious Bloodlings have of getting out of whatever hellhole they’re in, but I hope I have earned your respect enough for you to understand that this is serious. This is not a mission. This could end in death for all of us, myself included.”

I swallow my pride and sigh. “I’m sorry, this is just a lot. The students they took are gifted, Constantine. Most of them are young—too young to be turned by a level-headed vampire—and I think for the first time, I’m scared.”

Constantine's expression softens. Her posture shifts from tight and calculated to loose and relaxed. “I get it. Just know I’m going to help you, but you’re not going to like what we have to do to get there. If Alexander is betraying his own kin, we can’t trust anyone, including any other professors at the academy and vampires from this region. He’s a slimy bastard, sure, but he has pull.”

Her nails grow longer and fangs begin to show as she looks at her glass filled with fresh blood. The older vampires get, the longer their fangs get, and Constantine's are so long they no longer fit in her mouth.

“First thing we need to do is garner some type of proof. The humans are taking vampires—we know this—but for what? That’s the first answer we need, and we can get that from your human prisoner. The next step is to find a vampire even older than myself, Grayce Monet. There are rumors she resides on the east coast, probably one of the bigger cities like Boston or DC.”