with her.” We walk back into the house and continue on to the study. He opens up a drawer on the desk and pulls out a metal stake. He places it in my hand. “Just in case. She’ll be weaker, but it’s also possible she’s been faking her lack of strength. For all we know, she could just be waiting for the right opportunity to break through the chains.”
I nod, understanding that if I must, I’ll put this through her heart.
In the dungeon I dismiss the guard watching her. We’re all alone, the pale light from the flickering lamps casting more shadows than revealing our surroundings. Eris seems weak. The combination of blood hunger and stress is finally showing on the chained emissary. She’s pale, leading me to wonder whether her beautiful skin has come from the sun or a healthy supply of fresh blood. Her hair is dirty and slick with oil and sweat. Victor’s ruse is having an effect. She looks like she wants to give up. For her, the strength she would gain from the Thirst is no consolation for becoming hideous.
I soften my footsteps and kneel in front of her, trying to act more like a friend than adversary. She looks up at me, surrender evident in her eyes. I brush the hair off her face, using a gentle touch.
“I want to talk,” I say.
“Then talk.” Her voice has lost its luster, replaced with the cold need to survive.
“How much longer do you have?” I ask.
“You’re the vampire expert, you tell me.”
“I’m no expert in the Thirst. But I’ve heard that a vampire can feel the change coming.”
She looks away, her chest rising and falling, struggling against the constricting chains.
“I don’t know,” she says to the floor. “I feel weak, but I also feel like I’m on the verge of something, like a terrible black void is right behind me and I’m about to slip into it.”
“I wonder if that’s what my brother felt.”
Her head tilts up, sorrow and confusion on her face.
“My brother was just like you,” I say. “He was a Day Walker, turned by Sin.”
“I know,” she says quickly. I imagine she knows just about everything Sin does, which is I why I need her to talk. Even if I have to confess things I’d rather keep bottled away.
“Did Sin tell you how Brady succumbed to the Thirst?” I ask.
“No.”
“Brady refused to drink from humans. He didn’t want to hurt them, so he fed on vampires, thinking that would sustain him. It didn’t. The Thirst took over his mind.”
I wait in the silence, my delegate training telling me she wants to speak, but I have to give her time, give her a chance.
“Sin never wanted Brady to become one of the Infected. He hoped to gain another ally, much like myself. Of course, when your brother’s change was complete, and Sin saw how powerful he was, it gave him the idea for the Chosen. Infected Day Walkers, the most dangerous creatures to ever walk the earth—and Brady was the first.”
I pause for a moment, preparing my next statement carefully. “And soon, you’ll be another.”
She releases the tiniest of squeaks. “I know.”
“But you still have a choice. For you, there is still a fork in the path and a direction to choose. Just tell us how the Day Walkers are getting into the city, Eris, and all of this will stop. It isn’t too late.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Maybe not, but I know what the alternative is, and I know why you fear it. The Chosen aren’t blessed like you. No, they’re cursed. They may be powerful, but they trade everything for that power. The Day Walkers right now don’t realize that until it’s too late, but you’ve witnessed it firsthand, you’ve seen Sin’s army of the Chosen begin to form, and you know the madness and darkness that grows in their souls.”
Eris’s eyes betray her now: They speak to me, revealing her fears. I reach down and find her hands, bound at the wrist to her body. I hold them, knowing that even in a weakened state her strength could crush the bones in my fingers. But I know what I’m doing.
“I don’t want to become one,” she says, her voice just above a whisper, as if it escaped from her throat when her consciousness wasn’t looking.
“I know. And you don’t have to. Just tell us how the Day Walkers are getting into the city.”
“Sin will kill me,” she says.
“He’ll never know.”
“Yes, he will. He always knows, and then I’ll have given up the only thing he asks for: loyalty.”
I tighten my grip on her hands, somewhere between violence and compassion.
“You will be dead anyway,” I say, no longer sure who is the interrogator, whose soul is being peered into. “Because the Thirst will rob you of everything that you are. When I killed my brother, he looked at me, and I knew that death was a sweet release for him. His own body and mind tortured him. Don’t do that to yourself, Eris.”
I feel her hands shaking, I sense the walls of her will collapsing. One final push . . .
“I’m not asking you to join us,” I say. “I’m not asking you to fight against Sin. And when this is over, we can protect you. But we have to know how they’re getting into the city.”
Eris closes her eyes tightly and I see a single tear fall to the ground, perhaps the only tear she’s ever shed as a vampire. She seems so human in this harsh light, nothing like the daughter of the sun who walked into our lives.
“Hursch,” she cries softly.
“Roland Hursch?”
“Yes. He’s hiding them.”
Over the next several minutes Eris tells me everything: When Sin first arrived in Denver, masquerading as a new student, he brought three dozen of his most loyal Day Walkers with him. They remained in Denver, watching Sin from the shadows, protecting him in case he was exposed for what he truly was. They were also told to wait. And wait. And wait.
“Wait for the signal,” Eris said. “And that signal was my arrival.”
Sin was very busy as a student, involved in extracurricular activities I never would’ve dreamed about. He met with Hursch and made him an offer: “Let my Day Walkers stay in your mansion. Protect them. And when the time comes, release them as Eris requests. They will go out into the city, slowly at first, but always to return to you. When I have conquered the world, you will rule over the humans.”
I feel sick, and yet I’m not surprised. Hursch wants power, but none of the responsibility that goes along with it. His rants all along haven’t been about what was best for Denver, but what was best for him. By embracing Sin’s promise, he’ll finally be where he wants: at the center of everything.
I’m stunned. The Day Walkers weren’t finding ways to get into the city. They’ve been there all along.
Chapter 22
“Are you ready?” Victor asks.
The wind in the city is strong tonight, and it’s cold, bringing a chill that can cut to the bone. All I can do is nod and wrap my arms around Victor’s neck. We both look up at the roof high above us and the moon so much higher, clouded by the dense pollution of the Works that fuels the city. I close my eyes when Victor jumps, and I feel the wind rush through me and our soft landing as his feet find solid purchase. When I open my eyes, we’re on top of the house. The owners of the very expensive, very large mansion probably won’t be too happy that we’ve invaded their privacy and had the audacity to walk on their property. But when the news of Hursch’s betrayal hits the stands tomorrow, they won’t care about a few footprints on their roof.
In retrospect, I understand why the Day Walkers rained hell on the city as soon as Victor left. Hursch knew the new Lord Valentine was traveling; Victor had told him so when Hursch barged into the Agency. Hursch must have told Eris that day. How else would the timing have been so perfect?
I look out over the neighborhood, the richest and most lavish one in the entire city. All the wealth is here: businessmen and con men alike. People walk by and are envious but can’t stare for long before security shoos them away, as if their stares alone could devalue the estates.
