“And you’re still alive? I’m impressed. Seems like we have some catching up to do, then. Let’s get these raiders taken care of first.”
Several men make their way over to the bodies of the dead. They carry them off behind a small barn. Not a word is exchanged, just understanding. When the sun rises, more ash will blow through Crimson Sands.
Someone else gathers the horses and leads them toward a corral. People begin to wander back to their homes as though tonight’s events were familiar and boring. But Victor stays by my side. If Old Family don’t like change, this sudden shift has certainly made him tense.
When finished with his task, George returns to us.
“Come,” Dr. Jameson says. “You’ll probably want to hear more about our little town.”
“That’s an understatement,” Michael says.
Chapter 3
Once inside the house, fresh coffee is poured for everyone. The four of us just stare at ours, while George and the doctor take alternating sips.
“There isn’t much to tell, really,” George says. “Vampires, Lessers to be specific, living together with humans. Peacefully.”
“How many Day Walkers?” I ask.
“I’m the only one.”
“That’s why he’s such a good leader,” Dr. Jameson says. “He can walk between both worlds, as it were. A lot like you, Dawn.”
My heart stops. Does she know? Does she know about Sin and the Montgomerys? Does she know that I’m a vampire?
“As a former delegate,” she says, after a moment’s pause. “You know both worlds. Right?”
“Yeah,” I say a little too quickly, swallowing hard. “Yeah. I know the rules of each.”
“The difference is that in those walled cities,” George says, “the blood is taken under threat. I know it’s always called a donation, but it’s pulled out of the veins by fear, nothing else.”
“And here?”
“It’s also a donation,” Dr. Jameson says. “But here, the people
“Why?” Michael asks. To him, with his hatred of all things fanged, this must sound very strange.
“Because we recognize the value of our vampire friends,” she says. “They protect us at night from the Lessers who would do us harm. In return, we protect them during the day from hunters and scavengers trying to make a quick profit off some vampire fangs.”
It’s a simple, beautiful system. But . . .
“Blood quota?” I ask, as though a delegate check sheet were right in front of me.
“Never needed it.”
“Current blood supply?”
“Overflowing,” Dr. Jameson says. “We have more than we need. I have to turn people away.”
I think about Denver and its massive infrastructure, the blood banks, the initiatives, the propaganda posters, the thousands of citizens. All of that and we can’t come up with enough blood. Yet here, they have plenty.
“We’ve never had a shortage,” George says. “And we’ve never had an incident of a vamp taking what doesn’t belong to him.”
“You mean taking blood straight from the neck,” I say.
“That’s right. Learning to control our urges took a little time, but now, we couldn’t even imagine doing it.”
“That’s incredible,” I say.
He just shrugs. “Out here we’re kinda dependent on each other and grateful for one another.”
“Have you ever heard of anything like this, Victor?” Jeff asks.
“No,” Victor says. “Not since the war anyway. Before that we tried living openly with humans, and you know how well that worked out. A system like this isn’t sustainable. Once there are too many humans, or too many vampires, the power will shift.”
“I wish you had more confidence in us,” Dr. Jameson says. “But does your system of blood quotas and delegates work better?”
Victor turns to George. “So, you know my half brother, Sin.”
The change in topic is abrupt, but I know Victor doesn’t want to get into a discussion on the difficulties he has in getting donations from the citizens in Denver.
“I’m afraid so,” George says. “He turned me back when he was still a young’un. But he’s a different man now. I’ve watched him change before my very eyes.”
“Tell us everything,” I say.
“I was his second in command,” George says. “I was one of the first Day Walkers he ever created, and I was loyal to him for a century, always by his side. I was a fool. I thought what he gave me was a gift. Eternal life. Terrifying strength and speed. But it came at the cost of taking blood from my fellow man.”
He sips his brew, and we all stay silent, waiting for him to continue.
“I watched the madness slowly grow inside of Sin. He always felt like an outcast, and in many ways I suppose he was. He tried to reconcile with other Old Family, but they were all just like your father, Victor. They saw him as a freak of nature. The anger in his heart fueled him. He fed off human blood just as much as he fed off his hatred for the Old Families, for the vampires that turned him away.”
“I should have looked for him decades ago,” Victor says. “If I had, maybe I could have found him, reasoned with him. Stopped him from becoming a monster.”
But George just shakes his head.
“There was no reasoning with him. He was born to hate. It’s in his blood. And it only intensified once he controlled Los Angeles. I helped him. I stood by as he slowly turned the city of angels into a city of Day Walkers. I thought that would be enough for him. But I was wrong.
“He sent me out on a scouting expedition, searching for humans he could ‘bless’ as he called it, but I’d had enough. The farther I traveled, the less I wanted to go back. Then I discovered these folks and they welcomed me like I was one of their own. Before I was turned, I was a soldier protecting people. Returned to my calling here.”
“But where does it end for Sin?” Jeff asks.
George doesn’t look us in the eyes but instead takes another sip of his coffee, adjusts his hat that needs no adjusting.
“Complete domination of humans and vampires alike, with what he calls the Chosen leading the way,” he says. “Handpicked Day Walkers, the best and most loyal, and he infects them with the Thirst.”
I instantly think of Brady. That’s what he became; it’s what Sin turned him into. All traces of the brother I had once loved were lost within those blackened eyes.
“His goal is to have five hundred of them,” George continues. “From there, he’ll take them, along with every Day Walker, and march. Nothing will be able to stop him at that point.”
“How can he possibly control these ‘Chosen’?” Victor asks. “I’ve fought one before. It nearly killed me, and that was only one. Sin talks of hundreds? They’ll overwhelm him.”
“That’s what I told him.” George sighs heavily. “But he didn’t seem bothered. His last words to me before I left were: ‘Of course it’s impossible, in my current form. But I have only begun.’”
I cringe as I remember Sin’s teeth sinking into the neck of my ancestor, Octavian Montgomery. Sin knew what he was doing. Sin wants to be taken over by—
“The Thirst,” I say. “Sin wants to become one of the Infected.”
“Why would you think that?” Victor asks.
