was too powerful and his followers too many. While the others escaped, I wasn’t so lucky. I couldn’t get to the train in time. Michael came back for me, but Sin’s legions surrounded us.
“Why didn’t Faith and Richard stay back with you?” Victor asks, accusation in his voice. He told them that I was more important than anything else, even their own lives.
“They couldn’t,” I say. “What we learned was too important. If they hadn’t made it, no one would know about Sin’s army.”
Victor nods, swallowing his anger, washing it away with reason and sense. “Then tell me about the mountain. The throne. The ash. When I got there with Jeff, I had no idea what I was even looking at or why Sin would take you to a place like that. What did it all mean?”
I’m not ready to go there yet. “It was nothing,” I lie. “Just a—”
A thunderous sound echoes around me. The ground beneath my feet begins to tremble.
Victor and I spin toward the commotion. I didn’t realize how far we’d wandered. We’re standing at the edge of town. People are starting to gather at its center. The door to the doctor’s house bursts open and George rushes out with Dr. Jameson and Jeff on his heels. Michael is striving to catch up, but he’s still weak from his wounds.
“Come on,” Victor says, grabbing my hand.
We run over to where George, Dr. Jameson, Michael, and Jeff are gazing at the growing dust storm in the distance. But what’s causing it?
My mind races to Sin and his horde of Day Walkers. The thought of what they would do to the people in this town sends terror through me. Then I realize the car is what must have led them here. It’s loud, its lights serving as a beacon in the darkness—
But it isn’t Sin. As the four horsemen gallop into town, they stop and let the air settle into stillness around them. The beasts beneath them neigh and paw at the ground.
“Well, boys, it looks like the rumors were true,” the obvious leader says. He looks to be in his late twenties. Like him, each of his friends is cloaked in a long coat, chaps, and gloves. “A whole town, somewhere in this godforsaken desert, just waiting to be drained.”
Licking his lips, he proudly displays his fangs.
Beside me, Victor tenses and I know he’s preparing to attack, to protect these people who gave us shelter.
George drops his large hand on Victor’s shoulder. “Don’t worry yourself. We can take care of these pests on our own.”
He ambles forward with confidence. “Brave man,” Victor murmurs, but I know he’ll only honor George’s request up to a point. He won’t stand by while humans die.
“You boys should just head on out,” George says. “Ain’t no need for any trouble.”
“There won’t be any trouble,” the vampire says, sliding off his horse, his spurs clinking as he lands. Judging by his attire, he was once a cowboy who herded the cattle that now roam free. When a human is turned, he tends to cling to what he was before, even when he lusts for blood. “In fact, we’ll be able to take this town real easy.”
The others dismount, their rumble of laughter and expectations at easy pickings echoing around them. But something incredible is already beginning to happen.
Rather than running off in fear, the townsfolk are surrounding them. The Lessers look around, unable to hide the strange nervousness they’re feeling, obviously unaccustomed to any sign of bravery from humans. They wanted a town with inhabitants afraid of even one pair of fangs, let alone four.
“All right,” the leader says, raising his voice in an attempt to calm his troops and intimidate the growing crowd. “The first person to step forward I will personally turn. No more running from vampires. You’ll become one.”
No takers. Not a single one. Instead, stakes are pulled from belts and boots. I’m impressed by the resolve of the townspeople to protect themselves.
“Last warning, friend,” George says, placing his gun on the ground and pulling out a pair of his own metal stakes. “The dust in this town ain’t sand. It’s vampires. You hear me?”
“Maybe. But it’ll all be blood by morning.”
“Something’s off here,” Victor whispers. “I was distracted, didn’t notice it before.”
“What?” I ask.
Without a word, he pulls a stake from within his duster and steps slowly in front of me. With an Old Family vampire here, I feel better about our odds. Much better.
Michael and Jeff also have stakes in hand. Michael hands me one. I welcome its weight against my palm.
But I can’t do anything as the outlaw leader, using his vampire speed, rushes toward an elderly woman. She tries to raise her stake, but the vampire is far too quick. The vamp stands behind her, arm wrapped around her neck, a knife at her throat.
“Don’t,” Dr. Jameson orders us quietly, but with determination, and I realize each of us had taken a step forward. “This is our fight.”
To my surprise the hostage woman’s face is calm, serene, as though the vamp is simply holding her so they can dance. Why isn’t she terrified?
“All right then,
“You might’ve bitten off more than you can chew, son,” George says, a glint of humor in his voice.
“Ha! I haven’t done that in a hundred years,” he says, the knife beginning to press into the old woman’s wrinkled throat.
“That may be, but I can guarantee that you aren’t gonna like the taste.”
The old woman smiles, her fangs glinting. She opens wide and clamps down viciously on the vampire’s arm. Releasing a high-pitched yelp, he backs away, dropping the knife and grabbing his gaping wound. The old woman immediately begins spitting out his blood.
Several townspeople move with such swiftness that the dust whirlpools around them. Only vampires move that fast.
George strikes with identical speed, and three others from the group converge onto the leader. I see the stakes, then they disappear, and I know the vampire is no more. A moment later, a dozen other townsfolk charge toward the other three, a beautifully timed choreography. Surrounded, the intruders scream. Then silence fills the air. When the townspeople step back, they look like petals opening to the sun, and the four vampires who rode into the devil’s cavern thinking it was a treasure cove are left in a pile in the middle. Dead. Stakes through their hearts.
Victor didn’t move at all but kept his hand on my arm, protecting me from this sudden outburst of violence.
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Jameson quickly says, approaching us with her hands up in surrender. “We’re friends. Please, believe me.”
“But . . . but they’re vampires,” I say. I look over at Jeff and Michael, who are just as still, just as shocked as I am.
“Half the town is, yes.”
George asks for water for the elderly woman, and when it arrives, she quickly begins washing the vampire blood from her mouth. They must know of the Thirst and its dangers. Her actions are a preemptive step. A very good one.
“Are you—” I begin.
“I’m human,” Dr. Jameson admits. “I’m the representative for all the humans here at Crimson Sands, while George leads the vampires.”
“Every house here has two families in it,” George says as he wanders over. “Humans, warm in their beds at night, and vampires, asleep underneath those very same beds during the day.”
“But George, this morning, we saw you . . .”
“In the sun? Well, I’m a Day Walker. I know you haven’t heard of us, but—”
“Believe me, we have,” I interrupt. “We’ve even met your Maker.”
