The Lair

“Let her go,” I ordered.

I wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d do it, but hell, I had to start somewhere.

Roberto just stared at me, his head cocked to the side, his expression vaguely baffled. “Who are you?”

“I’m the guy who’s going to plunge a stake through your heart.”

There was a brief second of shock in Roberto’s expression. Then, slowly, he smiled. He tipped his head back and released a peal of crazed laughter.

It was the kind of cackle that would grate on anyone’s nerves, but Mel seemed to flinch away from it. As if the noise was actually repugnant to her. Maybe it was.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Roberto murmured as his laughter died away. “You must be Carter.”

That stopped me. I hadn’t expected him to even know I existed. I’d thought the rebellion had stayed under his radar. Unsure what to say without giving anything else away, I said nothing.

That didn’t seem to be a problem. Roberto was clearly the kind of guy who was vain enough that he didn’t mind carrying the conversation.

“Ely was right about you.”

Ely. Right. My favorite traitor. That’s who had told Roberto about me.

“He said you were good. Why, for a moment there, I almost believed you myself. You, a mere human boy are going to stab me through the heart.” He gave an exaggerated shiver of fear. “Scary stuff.” He let loose another peal of laughter. “Absolutely terrifying.”

I ignored his monologue. Frankly, I didn’t have the time to listen.

I hadn’t been lying to all those people about the Ticks making it through the fences. They would make it through. It was possible whatever aircraft had gone down had smashed right through the fence. In which case, they’d be here sooner rather than later.

Sure, I figured that plane going down had something to do with Sebastian, but I wasn’t going to wait around for his help. I couldn’t assume he’d intended to crash the plane or that he’d gotten out of it in time. I was the one who had to get us out of this. I had to get Roberto to release Mel, I had to find Lily, and then get the hell out of here. And pray there was still a Hummer left to steal, because I didn’t think the Mazda had much gas left. And I had to do it all before the Ticks came streaming through town.

First up, I had to convince Roberto to let Mel go. I decided to change tactics. Clearly the whole threatening him thing wasn’t working. Tipping him over the edge into crazy, maybe. Working in my favor, not so much.

I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender. “Look, we’re all reasonable. This city is under attack. Let’s call a truce and fight off the Ticks.”

“Why would I need a truce? The Ticks can’t harm me. They’re an annoyance. One that I will deal with when I see fit. Sebastian, on the other hand, is an annoyance whose time has come.” Roberto tipped his head back and yelled, “Se-bas-tian!” He drew out every syllable like they were separate words. “I believe your little assassin and your abductura are waiting for you.”

What the hell? Sebastian’s abductura?

Did Roberto know something we didn’t know? Had Mel retained her powers after all?

I sent her a questioning look. We hadn’t had much time in the clinic before her father had shown up, but if she still had her powers, wouldn’t she have found a way to tell me?

Would she even know if she was still an abductura? Maybe she still had her powers and just hadn’t used them.

But when I caught her eye, she shook her head like she didn’t know what he was talking about, either.

I tried another tactic. “Just let us go. We’ll get Lily, take the cure, and leave you alone.”

“You’ve already said you wanted to kill me. Why would I let you go? It’s completely impractical, of course. I can’t have humans running around messing up my plans. It’s bad enough that he’s out there.” Roberto whirled in a circle again. “Do you see what you’ve done, Sebastian? This was the last outpost of civilization, and you’ve destroyed it! All because of your stupid little revenge plot. You’ve sworn to kill me or die trying? Fine! But why kill all of humanity along with me?”

“Don’t pin your crimes on Sebastian. Don’t blame him for the mess you created. He’s the one who’s out there trying to protect people.”

“You don’t honestly think he ever cared about your stupid human rebellion, do you? He’s never cared about that. All he’s ever cared about was revenge. Two thousand years and that’s all he’s ever thought about. Seriously.” Roberto yelled out to the courtyard, “Sebastian, you need a hobby.”

Part of me knew that Roberto was right—about this, at least. Sebastian’s primary motive had always been stopping Roberto. But, still, I had to argue with Roberto. “He may want revenge, but that doesn’t mean he’s okay with what you’ve done to the world.”

“With what I’ve done to the world?” he asked, sounding strangely baffled. “I’ve protected as much of my kine as I can. I implemented the plan for the Farms. Jonathan convinced people to send their kids there to keep them safe. We’ve protected people.”

“Obviously.”

“And what has he done? He’s dillydallied around, plotting out this elaborate scheme to kill me while he waited for your powers to develop. What did he really think was going to happen? That you’d just waltz in here and talk me to death?”

“The way this is going, I think talking people to death is more your style.”

Roberto smiled at my joke, “You amuse me. Maybe I’ll even keep you around after I’ve killed Sebastian. I can never have too many abducturae.”

“The joke’s on you then, because Sebastian doesn’t have an abductura.”

Roberto’s smile froze. He tipped his head to the side and asked, “Do you really not know what you are?”

Icy fear hit me in the chest. Even though I didn’t believe him, I felt it. “I’m not the abductura. Mel was.”

Yet, somehow, even as I said the words, things were clicking in my mind. Pieces of a puzzle were starting to merge into a complex picture, something I hadn’t seen, hadn’t even dreamed until this moment.

“Of course Melanie here was an abductura. I figured one of Jonathan’s girls would be. Why else would I have worked so hard to get them back? But no, she lost that ability when Sebastian turned her. Think about it; he wouldn’t have turned his only abductura. He wouldn’t have turned anyone, would he, unless he didn’t have a choice?” Roberto pinned me with an unshakably intense stare. “It was your idea, wasn’t it? To turn poor Mel here. You were the one who convinced him.”

Even though I wanted to deny it, I couldn’t. When Mel was dying, Lily had had the idea that Sebastian could turn her into a vampire to save her life. But I was the one who convinced him to do it. Despite the fact that he’d sworn over and over that he’d never make another vampire, he’d done it.

At the time I’d thought . . . what? That I’d just made a good argument?

Now, standing here listening to Roberto, it seemed ridiculous that I hadn’t seen it before. I was the one who convinced Sebastian to turn Mel. Just like I was the one who’d convinced all the guys at Elite to start the rebellion. Just like I convinced them to search for Lily and Mel. To rescue Greens from Farms. Hell, back in the clinic I’d even convinced Jonathan to go talk with me instead of turning me over to the guards, which is what I was sure he really wanted to do. When was the last time I’d asked something of someone and hadn’t gotten it?

Now, looking back on my life, it was obvious what I was. Not just what I was, but what my father before me had been. What we both were. Abducturae. Liars. Controllers. Manipulators.

I’d been willfully ignoring my true nature for years.

Because, hell, who would want this god-awful skill? This curse that allowed you to twist the will of others? I don’t know if my father had wanted it, but he’d certainly used it to his own advantage. Jonathan had obviously wanted it. As for me, why would I want this? Why would I want to be in the company of these two losers?

Except I looked around behind and saw that Jonathan was gone. At some point in the last few minutes, he’d skittered away like the cockroach he was. The bastard.

So it was just me and Roberto. And Sebastian, if he was out there. I felt a burning wave of hatred wash over that icy disbelief. Sebastian had known what I was all along. He’d found me and nurtured my powers and used me, all without revealing what I was.

All my life, I had hated the kind of man my father was. The kind of man who used other people, who