“Christ, let’s just—”
The camp whistle went off—jolting them—a shrill steam scream followed by four more in quick succession. Then silence again.
Eph understood the alarm’s purpose: to alert not just the vampires but also the humans. A call to take shelter, perhaps.
Fet looked to the nearest building. He again checked the sky for light. “If you can lead them away from here, from us—we can get in and out of this place that much more quickly.”
Eph had no desire to be a bouncing red chew toy for this pack of bloodsuckers, but he saw the logic in Fet’s plan. “Just do me a favor,” he said. “Make it fast.”
Fet called back, “Gus! Stay with Eph.”
“No way,” said Gus. “I’m going in. Bruno, get with him.”
Eph smiled at Gus’s obvious distaste for him. He caught Mr. Quinlan’s arm and pulled him back, trading the sword he carried for his own.
I will take care of the human guards, Mr. Quinlan said, and disappeared in a flash.
Eph regripped the familiar leather handle, then waited for Bruno to come up at his side. “You okay with this?”
“Better than okay,” said Bruno, out of breath but smiling wide, like a kid. His super-white teeth looked great against his light-brown skin.
Eph lowered his sword, jogging off to the left and away from the structure. The vamps hesitated a moment before following. Eph and Bruno rounded the corner of a long, shedlike outbuilding, all dark. Beyond it, light shone from inside a window.
Lights meant humans.
“This way!” said Eph, breaking into a run. Bruno kept pace, panting. Eph looked back and, sure enough, the vampires were charging around the corner after them. Eph ran toward the light, seeing a vampire standing near the door to the building.
He was a big male, backlit by the faint window light. On his large chest and the sides of his trunklike neck, Eph saw fading tattoo ink, turned green by the white blood and multiple stretch marks.
At once, like a traumatic memory forcing its way back into his consciousness, the Master’s voice was inside Eph’s head.
What are you here for, Goodweather?
Eph stopped and pointed his sword at the big vamp. Bruno spun around next to him, keeping an eye on the drones behind them.
What is it you came here to get?
Bruno roared next to Eph, hacking down two charging vampires. Eph turned, momentarily distracted, seeing the others bunched up just a few yards away—respecting the silver—and then, realizing he had allowed himself to become distracted, turned back fast with his sword up.
The tip of his sword caught the charging vampire in the right breast, entering skin and muscle but not running him through. Eph withdrew quickly and stabbed at the vampire’s throat, just as the thing’s jaw was beginning to drop, baring its stinger. The tattooed vampire shivered and dropped to the ground.
“Fuckers!” yelled Bruno.
They were all coming now. Eph wheeled and readied his sword. But there were just too many, and all moving at once. He started backpedaling—
You are here searching for someone, Goodweather.
—and felt stones beneath his feet as he neared the building. Bruno kept hacking and slaying as Eph backed up three steps, feeling for the door handle, opening the latch, the door giving way.
You are mine now, Goodweather.
The voice boomed, disorienting him. Eph pulled on Bruno’s shoulder, motioning to the gangbanger to follow him inside. They ran past makeshift cages on either side of the narrow walkway, containing humans in various stages of distress. A madhouse of sorts. The people howled at Eph and Bruno as they hurried through.
Dead end, Goodweather.
Eph shook his head hard, trying to chase the Master’s voice from his mind. Its presence was addling, like the voice of madness itself. Add to that the people clawing at the cages as he passed, and Eph was caught in a cyclone of confusion and terror.
The first of the pursuing vampires entered the other end. Eph tried one door, leading to an office of sorts, with a dentist-style chair whose headrest, and the floor beneath it, was crusted with dry, red human blood. Another door led outside, Eph jumping down three steps. More vampires awaited him, having gone around the building rather than through it, and Eph swung and chopped, turning just in time to catch one female leaping at him from the roof.