Betrayals

whole world was black with smudges of gray. My head lolled drunkenly.

“Is she all right?” A hoarse rasp of a voice, one I should’ve recognized. “Is she?”

I choked, spat another gob of stuff. It splatted dully. Ewwww. Gross. The song of pain that was my entire body hitched up another notch, a choir of pulled muscles and still-burning skin. I couldn’t feel Mom’s locket, and it disturbed me until I retched again and had other things to worry about until the nausea retreated a little.

“She’s fine. Probably a bit stunned.” Graves sounded worried. I was jostled as well as dragged now, one of my arms over someone’s shoulders, the other over someone else. I hung between them like a scarecrow. “She’s still breathing, at least.”

“Let me see. Let me see her.” A scuffing, footsteps. The movement halted, and someone let out a sharp, pained sound. A light feathering touch along my forehead, grit scraping lightly against the skin. A gusty sigh. “God in Heaven, dzia kuja. Thank you.”

“Can we move it along?” Shanks sounded irritated. “I would really hate to fight another pitched battle with vampire shock troops and a Burner.”

“They’ve probably set up a cordon.” The husky voice was so familiar, I couldn’t place it though.

“Do we have any water?”

Shanks actually sighed, an aggrieved sound. “Dylan broke out to the west. They’re going fast and loud to draw attention away from us. Let’s go.” A sloshing sound. “Drink while we run. Can you keep up?”

“The day I can’t is the day I turn in my blades.”

I finally placed the husky, sour voice. My heart leapt inside my chest.

I had to cough and spit again before I could rasp, “Christophe?” The word was a husk of itself, scarring my throat. You came back. Intense relief warred with the fact that I really, truly was not feeling very good.

The person holding up my right side stiffened just a little.

“Right here, malutka.” He coughed again, a deep racking that ended on a choke. “Keep breathing. We’ll handle the rest.”

He sounds really sure. “I’ve g-g-g—” My lips refused to work right. My entire brain had seized up. There was so much to tell him. And so many questions to ask.

But he’d come back. For me.

“Later, moj ptaszku. Later. Focus on breathing for right now.” There was a crackle of undergrowth. We started moving again. “Your guardian angel is here, Dru. Don’t fear.”

CHAPTER 21

My vision returned in fits and starts, and a little while later I could walk. The stuff jammed in my nose was clear tubing attached to an oxygen canister slung over Dibs’ shoulder as he braced me on my left side. Graves was on my right, his hair wildly mussed and his coat singed. Blood painted the right side of his face, and his jaw was set.

My heart almost burst. My arm tightened, and he gave me a sideways look. “Hey,” he said, quietly. “How you, kiddo?”

My mouth was full of poison. I spat again to clear it, and Dibs giggled, a high, nervous sound. “Peachy,” I managed. “Wha’ happen?”

“All hell broke loose.” Graves barely looked where he was going. Trees pressed close, the night like a wet washcloth over the eyes. I wasn’t blind; it was just dark. Country-dark. There was a sense of stealthy movement, and the glitters and lamps of eyes around me told me I was in the middle of a group of wulfen. “They got into the school. There was a vampire with red hair, she just looked at things and they started exploding. Shanks and Dylan—”

“Save your breath,” came Christophe’s harsh voice. “We’re not free yet.”

“Christophe?” I had to know. “Where were you? I thought—”

“Around and about. Be quiet now.” He didn’t bother sugarcoating the command, but then his tone softened. “You seem to delight in doing the worst, most dangerous thing possible. Try to restrain yourself for a day or two, hmm?”

I’m just trying to stay alive, Christophe. Thanks. I wished I could put my head down on Graves’ shoulder, settled for putting one foot in front of the other. I was reeling, step to side-step. The oxygen felt good and cool on my burning throat. My teeth weren’t aching anymore. Much.

My head dropped forward. I sighed. Coughed again, trying to do it quietly. There was a pause, all the wulfen stopping at once.

A howl lifted in the distance. Vampire. The hatred in it scraped inside my skull, the taste of wax oranges on my tongue over the foul-ness, and I found out I was shaking again. I didn’t have the energy to pull myself up inside my head and block it out.

“God and Hell both damn it,” Christophe said quietly, but with a coldness to the words that turned the darkness into danger.

“Shit.” Shanks sounded like he seconded that emotion. “Let’s hurry it up, people.”

“What happened?” I whispered. Graves just shook his head. His arm tightened around me, like he wanted to pull me away from Dibs. The small blond werwulf was quivering too. I couldn’t tell whether I was shaking him or he was as scared as I was.

“Someone just died. We can hope it was the Burner, she would be a high-priority target. Without her, the nosferatu are merely dangerous, not overwhelming,” Christophe said softly. “Just breathe, Dru. Do we have another oxygen tank?”

“Just the one.” Shanks moved away. They glided noiselessly through the forest. My eyes were doing funny things, piercing the gloom one moment and showing me moving shapes, sticks, and the texture of bark. My teeth would give a sudden burst of pain; then the darkness would return.

All the questions I couldn’t ask swirled around inside my head. My right arm tightened over Graves’ shoulders. “I thought you were inside.” My voice was a harsh croak. “God.”

“Is that why you ran into a burning building?” He sounded shocked. Go figure.

I thought I could throw the vampires off my trail. It was too hard to explain and I didn’t have the breath. I tried anyway. “Well, yeah. That, and—”

“Quiet.” Christophe was a deeper shadow, his eyes glowing weirdly blue. Most of the wulfen’s eyes just glimmered dully. Shanks’ were actually yellow, and I could tell whenever Graves blinked because the green gleams next to me would vanish for a moment and my heart would stop again.

The motion suddenly halted. Everyone froze. I leaned on Graves. His hand, spread against my sore ribs on my left side, tensed just a little, fingers gone hard. I tried not to breathe too loudly. The oxygen bottle made a small sound, and I winced. Dibs and I shook together, my teeth clenched to stop their chattering.

Little noises filled the woods around us. I couldn’t tell if they were the regular cacophony of the woods at night, because it’s rarely ever silent out in the country, or if it was something else. I felt very small, and very soft and pink in the middle of the wulfen.

“We need cover,” Shanks mouthed. He leaned toward the shape that was Christophe, their eyes glowing at each other. “How drained are you?”

Christophe blinked, slowly, deliberately. The blue glow of his eyes came back, settled on me. “And I thought you would take convincing.”

A movement that could have been a shrug. “I don’t want to die. And I’m responsible for them.”

“Granted.” The single word had sharp edges. “I’ll need to drink.”

The four words fell like a stone into a glassy pool and vanished without a trace. There was a collective sharp inhale among the wulfen.

“Wait a second.” Graves sounded like he was having trouble with this. I tried to hold my head up.

It dipped forward. Curls had come free of my braid and bobbled in front of my face. “What are we talking