A Plague of Shadows

CHAPTER THREE-3

JACK SKIDDED TO A STOP beside a tipped-over chunk of eroded stone. His hands on his knees, he panted, taking in great lungfuls of fetid air. They'd made it to the muster point, a patch of sculpture and muddy grass that had once been the home of St. Alban's church and its small cemetery.

I need to run more, he thought as he canted his head, listening for sounds of attack, but all he heard was the sound of his own heart thudding in his ears. This was nominally neutral ground, claimed by the dead that were buried there, but that claim grew more tenuous as the buildings grew ever higher around it.

He glanced up as the last of them leapt over the tilting wrought-iron fence. Sha collapsed back against the unrecognizable statue that stood in the centre of the small park, dark streaks on the hand she pressed against the striated wounds on her torso and blood oozing from a gash on her abdomen. Her normally almond-hued skin was ashen. Dar placed both hands into a headstone, leaning over as he caught his breath. Jack stood up, his eyes tensing as his gaze passed over the others.

"Where's Mina?" he asked.

Dar c****d his head, then looked from Jack to the rest of the small group. Adeh, Astrid and Bee glanced at each other, then Bee shook her head and shrugged. "She ran when we ran."

No Mina. Jack's roiling stomach dropped, then he strode across the small park, heedless of the graves he was treading on, stepping past Dar. But Dar laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, stopping him cold.

Jack turned to stare at his mentor and friend, then yanked his shoulder out of Dar's hand. "We have to find her."

Dar looked down at the headstone. "We have to get to safety, regroup." His brown eyes, dark in the night, turned to Jack. "You saw what that was back there." His jaw tensed as he looked away again. "We have to protect the conclave."

"She's a member of the conclave." Jack looked from Dar to the others. Adeh and Astrid avoided eye contact. Sha's eyes were closed, her breathing thready. Bee just stared at him, her lips tense.

"She is." Dar nodded slowly.

After a long moment of silence, Bee spoke. "She's also a big girl who can take care of herself. Unusually well for a dhamphir." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Jack canted his head as he parsed Bee's comment. "What? You think she's different, unusual?"

"You know she is," Bee said. "Faster, stronger." She went silent, as if challenging him to contradict her statement.

"Maybe she's strange. News flash, we all are. But for all we know, what makes her different might also make her more vulnerable."

"Or more dangerous." Bee dropped her hands to her hips, close to the hilts of her daggers. "After all, she's already a dracul."

"So are you and I."

"But not after such a short time."

Jack's jaw clenched as he tried to work out a retort for that. Instead, it was Adeh's soft voice that spoke.

"Whether or not she's different, she's a member of the conclave." He stepped up beside Jack. "I'm with him."

Jack looked at Dar, whose brown eyes shone as he glared at the two of them, his lips thin.

"I agree," another faint voice said. Jack turned to see Sha standing, her bloody hand leaving a dark print on the statue.

Astrid came to stand beside Bee, looking at Sha with an arched eyebrow. "You're injured. You need a healer before you bleed to death."

Sha looked down at her arm, and the blood that oozed between her fingers to drip onto the ground, as if it didn't belong to her. "I'm a vampire, I'll heal."

Astrid pursed her lips, then shifted her gaze to the others. "What's to say Mina's not dead already? Should we endanger all our lives going after one person?"

Dar sighed and hung his head. "Fine, we go."

"What? That's not—" Astrid started.

Dar held up a hand. "We go. You don't have to join us. You can see Sha safely back to the Sanctuary."

Astrid stared at him for a second, her thick eyelashes flicking. "Nah, Adeh can do that. He's got a crush on Sha, anyway. Give them some alone time while we find this wayward vampire."

Impossible though it was, Jack swore he saw Adeh's deep brown cheeks flush, despite the cover of night.

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