Pitch

“I’m crashing the party,” he said.

“That’s not very nice,” Angelique pouted. She stepped forward. Maximus did the same. I stood rooted to the spot, unable to move as they began to circle each other, their eyes locked with the deadly intensity of two wolves squaring off for the kill.

Shoot her, I begged Maximus silently. Just kill her and get it over with. But when I glanced down at his hands I saw they were empty of any weapon and my gun, the one I had foolishly tossed away from me like an idiot, was on the other side of Angelique, well out of reach. I still had the smaller one, but I didn’t want to play all my cards. Not yet. Not until I knew where Travis was.

“You marked her,” Maximus said to Angelique, so softly I could barely hear.

“I should have killed her like I did the rest.” Angelique’s shoulders jerked in a little shrug. “But she was so delightfully willful. It would have been a shame not to play with her first.”

Maximus made a low growling noise in his throat. “She is not a toy.”

A smile spread slowly across Angelique’s face and in that moment, even though she was everything evil and ugly and wrong, she was beautiful too. “Ah, but she is Maximus.”

Maximus? How did she know his name?

“There is no reason for you to get involved,” Angelique continued. “The girl is here. Obviously she has agreed to my terms. Herself for the weakling. What else is there to discuss?”

“Where is Travis?” I said loudly. “Is he here? Is he okay? What have you done to him?”

In unison they stopped and spun to face me. Maximus looked furious. Angelique simply laughed and brought her hands together.

“See?” she beamed over her fingertips. “So deliciously unafraid. I haven’t had a pet like that in ages, Maximus. And to find one in the first town… Why, that’s unprecedented!”

Find one in the first town? What did that mean? “Maximus?” I said uncertainly. “What is she talking about?”

“Oooo,” Angelique cooed breathlessly. “You haven’t told her? Naughty, naughty boy.”

Maximus jerked his head to the side, but not before I saw the flicker of guilt pass over his face. “Nothing,” he said. “It’s not important. It doesn’t matter now.”

“Tell me,” I insisted. “What did she mean, first town?”

“She meant,” Angelique purred when Maximus remained silent, “that your little pathetic town is the Origin, darling. The first. A beta test, if you will. To see if we could do it. To see how fast ten thousand people could be slaughtered.” Her head tipped to the side and she frowned. “Much faster than we ever anticipated. Not much fun at all, actually. You didn’t exactly put up a fight.”

My head spun. “You mean – the rest of the world – they aren’t – you didn’t…”

“Slice them open, drink their blood, and destroy their homes? No,” she said sweetly. “I’m afraid not. Oh, don’t look so crestfallen, darling. We will do it. Tonight, in fact. If ten of us can do this in one night, just imagine what ten million can do in a week.”

Ten? All those people dead, an entire town wiped out, and there had only been ten of them? I staggered back, floundering under the weight of all of this new knowledge. Everywhere else… the rest of the world… Safe. Not destroyed, not dead, not yet, at least. Just one town. My town.

My mom. My sister. Still alive. Relief flowed through me, followed immediately by an anger so powerful I trembled.

“You knew,” I accused Maximus, stabbing my finger at him. “You knew it was just happening here. We could have… we could have gotten away! We could have escaped but you told us to stay.” I spat out the words like poisoned darts. Maximus flinched and stepped towards me, one armed stretched out.

“Lola, you don’t understand, it would not have made a -”

“No. NO! I’m getting Travis and we’re leaving. We’re going to go tell everyone what happened here and you,” I spat, cutting my eyes to Angelique, “are going to pay for what you’ve done.”

She ran a fingernail across her lower lip, drawing it down as she considered my words. “Is that so?” she said thoughtfully.

“That is exactly so,” I said.

“Oh, little pet.” She clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and shook her head. “I am so terribly sorry, but I simply cannot let you do that. Warning the rest of the world would be bad for business, you see. Ruin the element of surprise and all that. And we’ve been working so hard on this surprise.”

I ripped out the gun from my back pocket and pointed it right at the middle of her forehead. “The way I see it, you don’t have much of a choice. Now put your hands behind your head and stand against the lockers or I’ll shoot you dead, I swear I will.” Please don’t let her see my hands are shaking.

“I am not very fond of threats,” she said before she lunged for my throat.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The Only Good Drinker is a Dead Drinker

The gun went off. Angelique struck me as my finger curled around the trigger, sending the bullet into the ceiling. Plaster rained down on us and lights flickered crazily as we rolled across the floor.

Her teeth snapped half an inch from my face. I swung the gun up and brought the handle crashing down against the side of her head. She shook off the blow with ease and caught my chest with her knee, driving all the air from my lungs. Wheezing I grabbed her hair and yanked it back. She howled and flipped to the side, wrenching free. Her nails raked down across my cheek and came away dripping blood.

“You fight,” I gasped as I jabbed my elbow into her throat, “like a girl.”

Her answer was to pick me up by the back of my neck and throw me head first into the lockers. I hit them with a crash and crumpled to the carpet, temporarily stunned.

Breathing heavily, her hair askew and her eyes like blue fire, Angelique towered over me. “Stupid mortal,” she spat. “I should have ripped out your insides and made you wear them as a necklace.” One hand drew back, vicious claws extended as she prepared to deliver a death blow that would cleave my head from my body.

For the third time a gunshot rang out. For the first time it hit its intended target. In slow motion I saw Angelique’s mouth fall open in shock. Her body jerked as if she were a marionette and someone else was pulling the strings, drawing her arms out and sending her falling forward in a graceful swan dive. Blood spewed from her lips, showering me in a sticky red spray.

The gun went off again. Her stomach exploded outwards as the bullet tore through her spine and came out her front, tearing a fist sized hole in her beautiful gown.

Angelique fell beside me and for an instant our eyes met. Her mouth opened and closed, trying to force out words that would not come. I said nothing. Did nothing. I was frozen in place, forced to watch in horrified silence as the life ebbed from her body.

Then Maximus was between us, his hands clutching Angelique’s shoulders and shaking her. “Where is the boy?” he shouted. “What have you done with him?”

Her head lolled to the side. With blood running down the corners of her mouth she