The Gates of Byzantium (Purge of Babylon, Book 2) (54 page)

Josh felt for Will’s pulse, just to be sure, and found it. There. He really was just asleep, and Josh had no idea how to wake him up. In the movies, all you had to do to wake someone who had been drugged was tap them on the cheeks. Or say their name loud enough. That wasn’t going to happen here. He had done both those things, even the slapping part, which had terrified him.

So now what? Maybe if he could splash water on Will’s face. That usually worked in the movies, too. Of course, he didn’t have any water…

Josh was trying to find ways around this new problem when he heard noises.

Footsteps!

He scrambled up and darted across the room toward the door the footsteps were approaching. He was suddenly very glad he was barefoot, because he made almost no noise as he ran. He flattened his back against the wall next to the door and held his breath.

He listened to the footsteps getting closer. Was it his imagination or did it sound like the person was moving fast, almost urgently? Or maybe it was just his heart racing, making his entire body vibrate against the wall, all the way down to the cold floor.

The floor was so cold. Why was it so cold? Oh, right, he wasn’t wearing shoes.

The doorknob jingled and began turning clockwise. It looked like it was moving in slow-motion, rotating barely an inch per second, but that was just his mind playing tricks on him. The doorknob opened at the same speed that all doorknobs opened, but at that moment, standing there pressed against the door in his boxers, trying to remember to breathe, everything looked like it took forever to process, even the delicate, thin flakes of dust floating through the moonlight in front of him.

Then the door was opening and Josh saw a flash of skin and shirt and pants and before he knew it, Josh had thrown himself forward and into the figure, catching the person around the waist. They both went sprawling to the floor, and Josh heard the sound of something metallic clattering. He managed to look up and saw a small knife spinning along the floor, away from them.

Josh scrambled up on top of the person, raising himself slightly, and he thought,
I’m about to hit someone. Oh God, I hope I’m doing this right¸
and cocked back his right hand as far as it would go.

He was ready to deliver the blow, to smash down with righteous indignation, when the person under him looked over their shoulder and Josh heard a female voice through the adrenaline flowing through him like a loud, rushing river.

“Josh, stop!”

Josh froze and looked down at Sarah’s frightened face. “Sarah?”

“It’s just me,” she said, looking up at him, trying to catch her breath.

Josh’s right hand remained cocked. Sarah was one of them, one of the people who had lured them here and fed them and laughed with them and drugged them. She was the one who had brought out the glasses with the wine.

She was reading his face, terrified at what she was seeing. “I came back to help, Josh! Please, I only came back to help!”

He glanced over at the knife.

She followed his gaze, understood. “I was going to cut you free. And then the others. I swear, Josh, I only came back to help.”

He hesitated. Was she telling the truth? Could he even trust her? He had pleaded with her earlier because he’d had no choice. But he had the upper hand this time…

So this is what it feels like to be on top for once.

“Why?” he asked, keeping his body on top of her. She hadn’t tried to get away, so that was encouraging.

“I thought about what you said. I can’t keep doing this anymore. It’s not right.”

“We’re not the first ones…”

“No.” He could hear sadness in her voice. It was genuine. Either that, or Sarah was the greatest actress who ever lived.

Make a choice!

He did, and climbed off her. Sarah looked relieved and picked herself up from the floor. Josh offered his hand and she took it. “Are the others coming?”

“No, they’re asleep. Except Tom. He doesn’t sleep very much. He’s up in the Tower, where he always is.”

“Can he see us from there?”

“No, I don’t think so. The ballroom is toward the other side of the hotel.” She paused, then said, “How did you get out of the zip ties?”

“I used a nail.”

“A nail?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“Why?”

“No one’s ever gotten out of those zip ties before. But then no one’s ever woken up before, either. Are you…immune to it or something?”

“That depends. What is ‘it’?”

“It’s a form of Rohypnol.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“What?”

“Rohyp-what?”

“Rohypnol,” Sarah said. “People call it roofies.”

“I knew it. The date-rape drug thing.”

“It’s not pure Rohypnol,” she said, almost defensively. “I adjusted it a bit.”

“Whatever.” He walked over to the knife and picked it up. “Whose idea was the drug in the wine bit?”

She gave him a sheepish look. “Mine. It was either that, or do it Tom and Karen’s way, and that…wouldn’t have been good for any of you.”

“So you’re doing us a favor?” he said, the doubt plain in his voice.

“Yes.” She looked embarrassed again, her cheeks appearing slightly red even in the semi-darkness of the room. “I’m sorry.”

He shook it off. She had a lot to answer for, she and the others, but this wasn’t the time. Not even close. He looked up at the moonlight coming in through the high windows above them. “How long before whoever is supposed to come here for us actually comes for us?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah said. She rubbed her shoulders as if she were cold. He thought that was amusing, since he was the one walking around barefoot in his boxers. “Only Karen knows when they’re coming. She says it could be soon, or later, or tomorrow night. I don’t know for sure. Karen, Tom, and Marcus are the ones who really take care of things. We mostly just stay out of their way.”

“Who are ‘they’?” Josh asked. The question had been on his mind for a while now. “The people that are coming. Who are
‘they’?”

Josh saw the color drain from her face, and he suddenly knew the answer before she said it.

“
Them
,” she said. “The creatures. They’re the ones coming for you…”

WILL

“He wants you,
Will.”

He was back in Deussen Park, watching an idiot in a fast boat going back and forth on the lake ten meters from where the pier ended. The man was annoying a small group of fishermen along the shore of Lake Houston, and every now and then, one of the fishermen would flip the boater off, but the man was oblivious. Either that, or he didn’t care.

“‘He?’” Will said.

“The blue-eyed ghoul,” Kate said. “The first one you saw, outside the bank in Cleveland. His name is Mabry.”

“They have names?”

She laughed. It was melodic and feminine, and he was struck again by how much more human and womanly she sounded and looked in these dream encounters, compared to the way she had when he had actually known her. Back when she was still human.

That was a long time ago…

“We all have names, Will,” Kate said. “Most of us just don’t use them anymore.”

“What about you? Do you still use ‘Kate’?”

“I do. I find it helps me stand out from the crowd. And when there are billions of your species out there, and everyone kind of looks like everyone else, it’s a little hard to stand out.” She smiled. He wondered if that was a joke. “Mabry doesn’t mind. After all, he’s keeping his.”

She leaned against the railing along the walkway that rose three meters from the calm water below. At least, it was calm for the few seconds it took the man in the fast boat to come back around.

He was wearing slacks and a white dress shirt for some reason. Kate wore a pink Sunday dress. It was simple and elegant, and it looked fantastic on her. She always did have a beautiful body. A woman’s body. Curves in all the right places, as they say. Breasts pressing out at all the right angles.

She smiled. “I’m glad you like it. I made some improvements for you.”

“This would go better if you stopped reading my mind.”

She laughed again. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“No, I’m not.”

They continued up the walkway, passing an angry fisherman in mud boots and a straw hat throwing the finger at the fast boater.

“Why does he want me?” Will asked. “This Mabry?”

“At first, he was angry at you. But then after you survived the siege at Harold Campbell’s facility, I think he became infatuated.”

“That’s a disturbing thought.”

“It’s a compliment.”

“I don’t take compliments from undead ghouls.”

“Be a little more open-minded, Will,” she said, sounding like a mother chastising her son.

“What does he want with me?”

“He wants you to join us. Come over.”

“I thought you just wanted me to kill myself. Get it over with.”

She shrugged. “He’s changed his mind. Now he wants you to become one of us. It’s not like you have much choice, Will. When you wake up from this, you’ll realize that Song Island isn’t the sanctuary you thought it was. Far from it, in fact.”

“I never thought it was a sanctuary.”

“No, but you led the others there. You might not have believed it, but you
hoped
for it.”

Maybe…

What the hell was going on out there? Back in the real world? He remembered going to sleep. And then dreaming, which had brought him here to Deussen Park. And Kate was here, as if she had been waiting for him to return since the last time.

“Why does he want to recruit me?” Will asked. “I thought humanity was a lost cause. That we can’t win this war.”

“You can’t.”

“So why?”

She sighed, as if he were testing her patience. “Because Texas isn’t the only place where people like you are still fighting, Will. You should see how much trouble those idiots in New York are giving Mabry. That’s why he’s left me in charge of this area. He has to deal with them. California’s a mess, too. And Alaska. Well, it’s Alaska. It’s cold out there, and Mabry isn’t sure he even wants it.”

“Sounds like you have your hands full.”

“Humanity can’t win this war, but you’re capable of making it difficult for us to move forward. Mabry wants to deal with the troublemakers, nip it in the bud, if you will. Leave it alone for too long, ignore the problem, and it will fester and grow. That’s why he wants you. You’re a soldier. Mabry is smart, but he’s not a soldier, and a part of being smart is understanding your limitations. He wants both you and Danny, but he’ll settle for just you.”

California? New York? How many other places?

“They can’t help you, Will,” she said. “They’re in worse shape than you are, they just don’t know it.”

“They don’t know about the silver.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s all over for you and Lara and the others. Arriving at Song Island was the end of the road.”

“What’s happening on Song Island?”

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.” She smiled mischievously at him. “It was my idea, you know. It’s why Mabry turned me. He’s been planning this for years, decades—God, I don’t know, maybe centuries. But he’s no longer human enough to think outside the box. I am. But then again, I was always good at selling dreams to desperate people.”

The man on the fast boat went by again, and the sound of his outboard motor had somehow gotten louder. Will didn’t know how that was possible.

“I can give you Lara,” Kate said. Will looked over at her and she nodded. “I can give Carly to Danny, too. And the little girls, Elise and Vera, if you want. We don’t need them. We have all that we need. But we’ll have to turn the two of you. It’s the only way we can be sure.”

“There must be millions of soldiers out there. Why do you need us?”

“Once you’re turned, become what you call ‘ghouls,’ it’s impossible to reverse the transformation. You lose more than your humanity, you lose your experiences, everything that makes you, you. That’s what Mabry wants. You’ll still be you, Will, only…
more
.”

“And Lara?”

“She doesn’t have to be turned. We’ll leave her alone if you want. Let you have her to go home to in the day.” She looked amused by the idea. “Maybe she’ll grow to love you—the new you—all over again.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Have I lied to you before, Will?”

He didn’t answer.

“I’m not lying to you now,” she continued. “Help us put an end to this ridiculous troublemaking. I know you want to. You’re tired. Lara’s tired. Danny, Carly… They’re all tired. Isn’t that why you fell for Song Island so easily? Even you and Danny. You
wanted
what it promised so badly, you couldn’t wait to give in.”

What the hell is happening on Song Island?

“Aren’t you tired of the constant fear, the constant running?” she asked, moving closer to him, the heat of her breath against his skin. “It can all end. It will anyway. But this way, it’ll be your choice. And you’ll have Lara. And Danny will have Carly. You’re saving them from the misery. Don’t you want to save them, Will?”

“What’s happening on Song Island?” he asked.

She smiled. “You’ll see. Just know this. I’m coming for you, Will. I’m coming for you…”

The fast boat was now almost right next to him, flying by so fast and so close the waves rose into the air a good four meters. Will braced himself as the water came crashing down right on top of him with the force of a Mack truck.

*