“So do I,” said the guy next to him. “I’m Ben.”
“Yeah, I’m good, too. And I’m Ethan.”
“Got a headache and it smells bad down here, but I’m cool. My name’s Dave.”
“I’m Justin. Where the hell are we?”
Kevin stared at them. “You can think again.”
The five of them nodded. They didn’t look much different except there was no sign of redness in their eyes and their faces were animated with emotion—emotion that wasn’t anger or insatiable hunger.
“We’ve been healed,” Kevin said slowly.
“What do ya mean, healed?” Marc said. “I’m fine. Or, I was fine until just the other day when I woke up with that damned red crescent Mark on my …” his voice faltered.
Then Kevin watched as they remembered.
Silently, the five of them stared, slack-jawed, at one another. Kevin saw it. He saw the realization of what they had become—the memory of the things they had done—flood into minds that were no longer poisoned. He understood then for the first time the answer to the question he had been unable to ask safely back in his world. Am I the only red vampyre who still remembers what it’s like to be human?
Yes. The answer was yes. Kevin Heffer had been the only red vampyre in his world to remember what it was like to be human—to mourn for it, to miss it, and to be disgusted by what they had all become. But now these other five—they, too, remembered their humanity. And they couldn’t bear it.
“No.” The word wrenched from Marc on a sob.
“I couldn’t do those things. Really. I’m serious. I couldn’t,” Ben said as tears washed down his cheeks.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Justin repeated the litany as he shook his head back and forth.
Marc forced himself to his feet and stumbled to Kevin. He went to his knees and stared into Kevin’s eyes. “We have torn people apart with our teeth and hands. We ate them. People. Innocent people.”
“Yes.” The word hovered in the air around them, condemning them—taunting them—hurting them.
“I’ve got to get outta here!” Marc lurched toward the grate, only pausing to grimace in pain when the slats of sunlight hit his body.
“Stop!” Kevin shouted, lunging for him. But he was already in the sunlight. Kevin recoiled, expecting Marc to burst into flames.
Instead Marc jumped back—staring down at his body. He was wearing a T-shirt and his exposed forearms were striped with a nasty sunburn that was already blistering. “I didn’t die.”
“We have been healed,” Dave said, scooting over closer to them as he gaped at Marc.
“Will it go away? Will we turn back into those—those things we were?” Marc asked.
“I don’t know,” Kevin said.
“How could this be? Who did this to us? I can’t—I can’t bear the memories. I can’t.” Ethan put his face in his hands and sobbed.
“No, no, no, no, no, no …” Justin babbled as he stared up at the grate.
“Do you remember what they shouted at us when they trapped us? They said we’d trespassed on a world not our own,” Kevin reasoned aloud. “I think they were right. We’re not in our world anymore.”
“It could be a trap. A rebel army trap,” said Marc.
“No. This isn’t our world. Since when have humans been allowed to decorate the streets for Christmas?” Kevin said. “And what about the depot? There was a restaurant there where humans were being waited on by fledglings—red fledglings.”
“That’s impossible,” Dave said.
“Exactly. And that vampyre—the blue one in the tunnels who stopped the others from killing us—she’s my sister. In our world, my sister died the day I was Marked, more than a year ago.”
“What does all of this mean?” Marc asked.
“I know who might help us figure this out,” Kevin said.
“Who?” Davis said.
“My sister. She tried to tell me. She said not to run. Zoey will help me. She’ll help us. I know it.”
“She can’t help this.” Ben stood and lifted a trembling finger to press it to his temple. “She can’t help the memories stop here.”
“No, but she can help us figure out how to go forward from here,” Kevin said.
“There’s no going forward after what I’ve done.” Ethan stood shakily beside Ben.
“But we have to,” Kevin said.
“No, no, no, no, no.” Justin repeated the word as he stood with Ben and Ethan.
The three vampyres shared a long look.
“Justin has it right. No,” Ben said. “No, we don’t have to go forward.”
“And we won’t,” Ethan said.
Together, Ben, Ethan, and Justin charged forward, knocking David off his feet and throwing Marc into Kevin. Caught off guard, Kevin scrambled to get out from under Marc and gain his footing. When he did it was too late. Ben had shoved the sewer grate aside and crawled through the opening, with Ethan and Justin following him.
Kevin lunged for Justin’s leg. He managed to snag his ankle, but Justin kicked him, sending Kevin back on his butt. By the time he regained his feet for the second time, the three red vampyres were already running clear of the grate.
Yanking his shirt up so that it covered his head and part of his face, Kevin pulled himself up in time to see Ethan, Ben, and Justin, bodies smoking in the winter sunlight, shouting incoherently at the group of uniformed men who had been getting into black SUVs. The men turned. Kevin heard them order, “TPD! Halt or we’ll shoot!” The three didn’t pause.
“Do it or we will eat you!” Ben’s anguished shout carried down to them.
The man with the flamethrower turned it on them.
Kevin pulled the grate back over the manhole and fell heavily to the ground as their screams died in flames and sunlight and blood.
Marc hurried to him, pulling him back out of the splotch of sunlight.
“I couldn’t stop them,” Kevin said between heaving breaths. “I tried. But I couldn’t stop them.” He stared up at Marc and David. “Are you going to do it, too? Are you going to commit suicide?”
“I can’t promise that I’ll be able to live with my past, but I need answers,” Marc said. “I’m coming with you, Lieutenant.”
“I’m with you, too. I won’t pretend that I can handle this, but I also need answers,” David said.