I sneak back to the square as the fight between Roberto and Sebastian rages on. Of course, all the sneaking in the world is pointless. Neither notices me. They are completely engaged in the battle, relentlessly focused on each other. The clang of metal on metal echoes through the square, and the closer I get, the more it blocks out everything else. The howls of the approaching Ticks. The roar of the helicopter’s engine. The report of rapid gunfire in the distance. All of it fades.
Roberto and Sebastian appear to be evenly matched. Roberto is smaller, of course, but the katana gives him a longer reach. Sebastian, I know, has battle experience that should give him an edge, but Roberto is fantastically good with the sword, wielding it with an easy confidence that I never managed.
As evenly matched as they are, I have no doubt this could last for hours. Days maybe, before one of them tires enough to make a mistake. They slash and swipe and parry with a grace and agility that no Hollywood special effects department could hope to match.
Their battle is a thing of beauty.
But I don’t have time for this. My sister needs that cure. All I need is a few minutes alone with Sebastian to find out where the cure is, so that Carter and I can leave here to go get it.
We need to get out of here soon. There are—literally—hundreds of miles of fence around this compound, but eventually the Ticks will find their way through if they haven’t already. They’ll swarm over this town and when they do—if Carter is still here—he’ll be torn apart. He’s protected me often enough. It’s time for me to return the favor.
I have to either interrupt the fight or find a way to tip the balance to end it more quickly. Neither of which I am going to be able to do unless I find some kind of weapon. I know the guard station will be well stocked, but undoubtedly there are guards there also. I’m not going to count on them handing me a crossbow so I can go murder their leader.
Instead, I sneak back around the edge of the square toward the one building I know: Roberto’s mansion.
I don’t know what I’ll find there. My trek through the downstairs of his house was somewhat impeded by the fact that I was dragged along behind a raging maniac. I don’t remember seeing anything I could use as a weapon, but even crazed vampires needed brooms, right?
Sure, Roberto doesn’t seem like the type to do his own cleaning, but the cleaning staff has to keep their stuff somewhere.
I dash up the steps and in through the front door, which stands open. My eyes adjust quickly to the darkness and I stare around the foyer. There is a front parlor off to the left with a massive entertainment center and sleek, leather furniture intermixed with elegant antiques. I guess his taste is eclectic. I am about to walk on past and look for a broom closet or something when the gleam of metal on the back wall catches my attention.
I walk into the room, feeling along the wall automatically for a light switch before remembering that the electricity is off. I am most of the way across the room before my mind processes what I am seeing.
The wall is covered with weapons, from the ceiling all the way down to the display case. Swords, daggers, crossbows. Most of them look like antiques. All of them have a cross somewhere on them, everything from the crudely painted slash of red on the wooden handle of the crossbow, to the mother-of-pearl embossed on the handle of a sword. The display case is the wood-and-glass kind you’d see in a museum. It contains a series of Victorian-style boxes. The most elaborate of them is closed to show off the carving. The others are opened to reveal the contents: daggers, pistols, vials of mysterious powder, carved pieces of wood. More crosses. Crosses on everything.
That’s what does it for me. That’s what gives it away.
They are vampire hunting kits. Once in the Before, I’d seen a TV show about them. They’d been a curiosity item popular with paranoid Victorians after the publication of Bram Stoker’s
What kind of idiot collects weapons specifically designed to kill him?
An egomaniac with a well-equipped personal army, I guess.
I reach for a sword most like my katana. As I pull it from the wall, I notice a tiny nameplate beneath it.
I don’t take the time to count them. I don’t need to know how many have failed before me. Besides, I don’t really need to kill Roberto. I only need to distract him long enough for Sebastian to do it.
Obviously, one of the bows would be my best bet in terms of not needing to be close to Roberto to use it, but I don’t have Lily’s archery experience. Besides, I think I’d read somewhere that bow strings needed to be oiled regularly to be kept in working condition. Even if I could hit a target, having the string snap when I notch the arrow will do me no good.
I take the katana and a wicked-looking dagger. Then, just to be sure, I knock out the glass in the display case and grab a fistful of stakes. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I don’t want my katana added to this wall.
I think for a moment, but I am not sure how I feel about Sebastian’s Arkansas Toothpick. When it comes to him, I am still torn.
How am I supposed to feel? In some ways, Sebastian seems to know me better than I know myself. He understands me like no one else ever has. And he’s used that knowledge against me. He’s turned me into a killer.
I truly hate him. But does that mean I want him dead?
No. I don’t.
Unless . . . unless everything Roberto had said was true. Unless Sebastian was responsible for the Tick virus. Unless he was the one who had destroyed the world. Unless he was the one responsible for the end of my world as I’d known it. For the death of my mother. What happened to my sister.
Then, yes. Then, I want him dead.
Once I’m armed, I sneak out the front door and slip through the darkness to the square. I stash the stakes in the pockets of my cargo pants. Then I tuck the katana under my arm as I fasten the sheath of the dagger to my belt as I walk. Confident I can reach whatever I need, I grip the handle of the katana and scrape the pad of my thumb across the blade. It’s old but sharp enough. It will do what I need it to. Kimura may not have succeeded in killing Roberto, but then, he wasn’t sneaking up on him in the middle of an all-out battle. Still, I couldn’t help wondering if Kimura had failed because he’d underestimated Roberto. And if I was making the same mistake.
Sebastian and Roberto are still at it; I knew they would be. Roberto almost has Sebastian backed against the oak tree in the middle of the square. Sebastian sees me coming, his eyes flickering only briefly in my direction. Roberto hesitates on his next strike, and it’s the window Sebastian has been looking for. With one wickedly fast movement, he lunges in and the dagger catches the katana just so. The sword flies out of his hand and goes soaring through the air.
Roberto spins away before Sebastian can skewer him, and I think he’s going for the katana. But he doesn’t. He jumps, flipping in midair and lands beside me. I’m not fast enough. Not vampire enough, I guess. My reflexes aren’t as quick as either of theirs, because before my eyes can even process what has happened, Roberto has yanked out my dagger and has pressed it to the underside of my jaw.
His voice is hot and cloying in my ear. “Better drop the sword, love.”
I toss it aside, toward Sebastian. He still has his dagger, obviously, but I figure another sword won’t hurt his chances.
“I bet you’re wondering”—Roberto reaches up to tuck a strand of my hair back to bare my neck—“how I’m so much faster and smarter than you. Aren’t you?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer. Which is just as well, since I’m not sure I could talk past the bile in my mouth. “You’ve been living off Ticks and wild animals because Sebastian lives like some sort of cave person. Me, I’ve been dining on the smartest, most content humans in the country. My dear, you really should have higher standards when it comes to picking your boyfriends.”
“It’s not a question of standards,” I growl. “If one of you is repulsive.”
The tip of the dagger bites into the tender skin of my neck and I twitch away from it. I think I’ve pissed him off, but then he chuckles. “Too late now, anyway. If you’d come to me earlier, I could have shown you a good
