The Vault (A Farm Novel) (27 page)

MEL

I know there are things left unsaid between Lily and me, but none of them are things I want to say in front of Sebastian and Carter—certainly not now that Sebastian thinks I’m in love with Carter. And once we reach Genexome, there isn’t time. But maybe that’s the great thing about sisters: a lot can go unsaid. At least that’s the great thing about Lily and me. We’re old pros at that not talking business. I think of all the times—back when I was autistic—when I simply didn’t have the words to tell her what I was thinking or how I was feeling. All the times I did the best I could with a few bars of humming and the slink of my Slinky, which had always been my comfort toy.

I long for those days. For that ability to say so much with so little.

Now I have all these words and no way to put them together. And no time to speak them anyway if I did.

Carter pulls to a halt in front of one of the seven gray buildings that make up the Genexome campus. I’m glad Carter can tell one building from the next, because they all look identical to me. Still, it must be the right one, because Sebastian—hobbling along with Carter’s help—guides us into the building and down the stairs to the hallway leading to the vault. Once we’re there, it all starts looking more familiar.

Unfortunately, even the cool air hasn’t done much to slow the decomposition of the dead bodies in the hall. The stench grates on my already jangling nerves, making the last pint of blood I drank slosh in my belly. I can feel it climbing up my esophagus. Maybe twenty feet from the door, Lily stops to puke, which only makes things worse. I look back over my shoulder and see that Carter is still helping Sebastian down the stairs.

“Any chance you can hurry this up?” I ask, burying my fingers in Chuy’s fur, partly to steady myself and partly because dogs are less picky about the age of their food and I don’t want Chuy getting too close to the bodies.

“Do you want to carry him?” Carter shoots back.

“As a matter of fact—”

“Stop bickering, lovebirds,” Sebastian interjects as he pushes Carter away. “I should go on from here by myself anyway.”

Carter and Lily stand back. He’s shuffling his gear around, like he feels as nervous as I do. Chuy stays close to my side while we wait for Sebastian. Carter’s got his arm around Lily’s shoulder and she’s resting her head against him, like she’s still weak. Which I’m guessing she still is. I’m shooting mental daggers at Sebastian’s back and just glad neither Carter nor Lily noticed the lovebirds comment. I focus on the warmth of Chuy’s skin under my fingertips. It is almost enough to soothe me.

I really want to kill Sebastian and I’m not sure if it’s because we’re in his territory now or because he’s been acting like such an asshole.

He steps up to the LCD panel and pushes a button. A Plexiglas gate slams down, blocking him off from the rest of us. For one horrible moment, it occurs to me that this could all be some sort of trap. He’s cut off from us. He could disappear back into his own safe room and leave us out here at the mercy of Sabrina.

I can’t think of why he would actually do that, but there are so many things about Sebastian that I don’t understand. That I’ll never understand.

My heart pounds as I watch him typing some kind of code into the keypad. He’s close enough for the retinal scanner to do its thing and then he presses his palm to the screen, and a second later, the computer emits a peppy beep and the door slides open. A few seconds later, the gate does, too.

And then a siren goes off. A screeching, annoying whaa-wa, whaa-wa, whaa-wa loud enough to pierce my eardrums. Chuy flinches and whimpers.

“Get in,” he orders.

We rush forward, carrying what gear we’ve brought from the car or collected on our way through the building.

“What is that noise?” Carter asks.

Sebastian gives him a condescending look. “That’s called an alarm.”

“Obviously,” Carter says through gritted teeth. “Why is it going off now? Did you trigger it when you opened the vault?”

“Not at all,” Sebastian says, busy at the LCD screen on the inside of the vault now that we’re all in. He punches a series of buttons on the panel and once again presses his palm to the screen. The door closes behind us. “Sabrina triggered it on her way into the building.”

Carter shoots me a look, his expression puzzled, like he’s trying to figure out if we’d triggered an alarm and he hadn’t noticed. “When Mel and I were here earlier, we didn’t set off any alarm.”

I just shrug, because I don’t know what’s going on.

“Of course not,” Sebastian says smoothly. “No, Sabrina did that on purpose. She wanted to make sure we knew she was coming for us.”

CARTER

I followed Sebastian down to the lower level.

“What do you mean she wanted to make sure we knew she was coming for us?”

He ignored me at first, instead heading for a doorway at the far side of the living room. I followed him into a much smaller room. Two of the walls were lined with weapons storage lockers. The room was a veritable arsenal. The third wall was dominated by a media center with a computer desk and large flat-screen TV. I gave him a chance to pull up the security video feeds. He studied the screens for a few minutes. And still didn’t respond. I cleared my throat. And got nothing.

Finally, I got right in his face. “What the hell?”

He glanced at me, like I was some kind of insect he wanted to squash. Then he gave a beleaguered sigh. “She’s baiting us. Trying to draw us out.”

“To what end?”

He kept his attention on the TV as he used the remote to pan through the screens, sparing me only enough attention for an eye roll. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s so she can kill us.”

Yeah. His attitude was really starting to piss me off. I took a step closer, blocking his view of the screen. “Look, we’re in this together. If you want to be a dick, do it sometime when our lives aren’t on the line.”

Sebastian looked at me then, his expression smug and condescending. “Ah, such words of wisdom from one so young.”

I had to clench my fists to keep from punching him. “Look, I’m not any happier about this collaboration than you are, but if I can put up with you to get this worked out, then you can damn well do the same.”

“Sorry my secure fortress, lifesaving supplies, and world-changing cure are such a burden.”

“Yeah. Your constant stream of lies and deception have been a real friggin’ help. Thanks.”

“Have I hurt your feelings?” Sebastian sneered in a tone he’d use to speak to a child.

“You might have told me.”

“Told you what?”

I tapped down my irritation. If the past few days had taught me anything, it was that losing my temper made every situation worse. “Oh, I don’t know. About Genexome. About the Tick virus. Maybe about the fact that I’m an
abductura
. That might have come up sometime in the past two years.”

When Sebastian looked at me, his expression was devoid of that wry sarcasm that I was so used to getting from him. Instead, there was a kind of cold anger glazing his eyes. “What would have been the point?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It might have been nice to be a little prepared.”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he said dismissively.

“Bullshit. It—”

He whirled on me, and in an instant slammed me up against the wall and held me there by the throat, my feet dangling a couple of inches from the floor. I didn’t fight back. He was faster and stronger than I could ever be. Even wounded, he’d beat me. So I didn’t give him an excuse to try. I just prayed that he’d calm down and realize what he was doing before he strangled me.

“It would have changed nothing. You still would have wanted to save Lily. You still would have searched the Farms until you found her. You still would have done everything you could to keep her safe, even if it meant manipulating other people. The only difference is you would have felt guilty about it and I would have had to listen to you bitch.”

“You still”—I choked out—“should have told me.”

He dropped me, turning away. He let out an audible, shuddering breath as he pressed a hand to his chest, where the stake was still lodged. When he turned back to face me, I could see the blood seeping through his shirt.

Despite the pain he must have been in, his expression was cold and blank. “What exactly do you think you would have done differently? If you’d known?”

He was right, of course. The bastard. He was always right.

Even if I’d known what I knew now, I would have tried to find Lily and Mel. I would have wanted to make sure they were safe. Would I still have started the rebellion? Yeah, I probably would have done that, too. Because no matter how I looked at it, we needed to fight. I would never have been okay with humanity just lying down and accepting defeat.

But when it came to my relationship with Lily—well, there I might have changed things.

“If I had known—” I said aloud. “I might have saved Lily, but I wouldn’t have pursued her so hard. I would have given her a choice.”

“A choice?” Sebastian sneered. “You think she ever had a choice when it came to loving you? None of us have a choice when it comes to love.”

That’s when it hit me. Sebastian’s pissy attitude. His anger. It wasn’t because he was in pain. It wasn’t his normal disdain. It wasn’t even the remnants of his territorial rage.

“So that’s how it is,” I said softly.

“That’s how what is?” he snarled.

“You’re in love with Mel.” He whirled on me, but I held up my hands. “Hey, I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

Jesus. No wonder he was so pissed.

“It’s not like that.” He turned his attention back to the security feed, but I didn’t think he was really seeing anything.

I didn’t believe him. Not for a second. It was exactly like that. He was in love with a girl he could never have. Despite everything Lily and I had been through, despite my gift and despite her exposure to the Tick virus, in the end, at least we had each other. Sebastian and Mel would never have that.

There wasn’t anything I could say that would make that gig any better. So I turned my focus to the screen, trying to make sense of the images there.

After a minute, Sebastian whispered, “She’s in love with you.”

I glanced at him. Surprised, because reassurances weren’t really his thing. “Yeah. That’s what she keeps telling me.”

“Not Lily. Mel.”

I rocked back on my heels.

Before I could say anything, Sebastian continued—without even glancing my way, like this was totally no big deal. “I know you’d never leave Lily, but just don’t . . . don’t hurt Mel.”

“Is that what you think? That she’s in love with me? Because you’re wrong.” He started to say something, but I didn’t give the dumb-ass a chance. “Think about it. In the past two months, she’s been in my company for less than twenty-four hours. Total. Before that, when she was still human, she was an
abductura
—and way more powerful than I am. I think one of us would have noticed if she’d been in love with me then.”

For a long moment, he didn’t say anything, just kept staring at the TV screen. Then finally, he pointed at a shot of the exterior of the building.

“Sabrina’s retreated from the building and is setting up camp right outside. I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about her trying to break in. At least not in the immediate future. She’d rather just wait us out.”

For a second, all I could do was gape at him. Then it occurred to me that it didn’t really matter to him if Mel was in love with me or not. He couldn’t have her either way. And maybe it would have even been easier on him if he’d thought she didn’t love him.

Of course, unless we could figure out a way to defeat Sabrina, this wasn’t going to end well for any of us.

“Okay, then,” I said, “what do we do?”

“For now, we wait for her to get cocky and screw up.”

LILY

Once the door closes behind us, locking us in, the blaring sound of the alarm isn’t quite as nerve grating. Even better, the stench of rotting flesh dissipates, even though I’m pretty sure those scent molecules have buried themselves so deep up my nose I’ll never not smell it.

But maybe my sense of smell is just different now. Now that I’ve been a Tick. Maybe I’ll always hate the smell of dead things and crave the scent of fresh blood, even when it’s in polyurethane bags, buried in an insulated suitcase.

For now, I’m just glad to be out of the car and away from the dead bodies and—for the moment anyway—safe.

The guys seem deep in some conversation near the entrance. Something about levels of security and whatnot. Me? I want to get as far away from that door and the scent of death as possible.

On the other side of the door, the hall had been stark and utilitarian. Gray cement walls and cheap fluorescent lights. On this side, it’s a whole different world. The walls are paneled in dark wood. Elegant frosted-glass sconces dot the hall. This isn’t a bunker. It’s the foyer to an underground mansion.

Ahead, the hall opens up and leads to a grand staircase, one that goes down rather than up. Off the side there’s a library with bookshelf-lined walls and a pair of sleek modern chairs in front of a cold fireplace. On the other side, there’s an office. From where we are, I can see the room at the bottom of the stairs. It’s a living room with a media center on one side and an open kitchen on the other. Somewhere, either on this level or the one below, I assume there are bathrooms. And probably freezers of food. Most likely blood, but I try not to think about that.

Mel and the dog have wandered into the office off to our right and I follow them through a pair of open French doors. Across from the door, mounted on the wall, there’s a whole collection of swords and daggers. There are even a few older-looking pistols. I’m oddly drawn to the weapons. Weapons have never interested me, but history always has. These are old. Some of them look ridiculously so. For us, they’re part of the distant past. Even the most recent look far older than the gun my great-grandfather carried in World War II. That’s the oldest weapon I’ve ever seen in person. The only thing I know about Grandpa Rosen is that he enlisted so his parents wouldn’t have to feed him at the end of the Depression, and served in Italy. In my life, that’s practically ancient history. In Sebastian’s life, it’s so recent it doesn’t warrant a place on his wall.

He’s been alive impossibly long. If he had family or siblings, he probably doesn’t even remember them now. And someday, that’s what I’ll be to Mel. A blip. A ghost. Someone who lived for a fraction of a moment.

I think of the pink backpack I left with Sebastian after she became a vampire. A small stash of things left over from our life in the Before—a stuffed toy squirrel. A Slinky. The lovies she cherished most when she was human. The things that brought her comfort.

I have no idea what happened to them after we parted ways back in Decatur. That was eight weeks and a lifetime ago. Mel and Sebastian probably changed cars too many times and he wouldn’t know how important it was and she wouldn’t remember how desperately those things had mattered to her, and if she did remember, maybe she wouldn’t care. Maybe I was the only one who cared about those lost lovies.

And then, inexplicably, when I turn to look at the bookshelf behind the desk, I see a collection of toys. A wooden toy phone, a toy car, one of those birds that bobs for water, and a Slinky. An old-fashioned metal Slinky exactly like the one Mel used to have. Except it can’t be hers. This one is shiny and new and looks like it’s been here for months. Is it possible that Sebastian brought Mel’s Slinky here or did he simply have one of his own through some bizarre twist?

Entranced, I walk over to it and run my finger down the outside. I pick up the Slinky and turn to see if Mel has noticed it, too, but she’s not even looking at me.

By the doors, there’s a coat tree with a navy pea coat hanging off it. Her hand is on the sleeve of the coat, her eyes are closed, and she’s leaning slightly toward it, like she’s breathing in its scent.

And just like that, I understand. The dark tension between them isn’t that vampire territorial thing Carter has told me about. It’s something else. Something romantic and maybe sexual, and it hurts me to think of Mel that way. Because I’m not yet used to thinking of her as an adult. As this other person who is at least as grown up as I am and who doesn’t need a stuffed animal or a toy, but who does need to breathe in the scent of the guy she loves.

And also because of the swords on the wall. Sebastian isn’t just old. He’s violent. I’ve seen him kill. Ticks and humans. I’ve seen him fight. I’ve seen him struggle to control himself and I’ve seen him lose. And every cell in my body, every molecule in my brain and firing synapse, yells that she is
not
for him.

But this isn’t my decision. I’ve made one decision for her already and I don’t know if we’ll ever recover from that. So I set the Slinky down where I found it and I walk around the desk back toward the door, not looking at her. And she is so focused on Sebastian’s jacket that Chuy is the only one who notices me leaving.

“I’m going to go downstairs to see what I can find in the kitchen,” I say stupidly. She just gives me a blank look, so I add, “I know you and Sebastian brought your own . . . food. But we should check and see if there’s anything for Carter and me to eat.”

She nods, but before I can leave, she stops me with a touch to my arm. “Actually, I want you to help me find the cure.”

“Yeah. Sure, we can ask Sebastian—”

“No. Before he notices we’re looking. While he and Carter are still fussing with the security system.”

“I’m not sure they would like that you’re calling it fussing—”

“I’m serious.”

“Okay. What for?”

“If it works the way I think it works, then I think it can cure me.”

“Cure you?” And then I get it. “Oh. Oh, Mel.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m not—” She turns away and I’m not sure if it’s because she can’t stand to look at me or if she doesn’t want me looking at her. “I’m not mad anymore. In fact I’m even used to being like this. To the things I can do.”

There’s a note of pride in her voice, and for the first time, she sounds to me like the old Mel. The way she used to sound when she talked about music and math.

“Then why?”

When she turns back to me, her eyes are blazing with determination. “Do you remember what Sebastian said about vampires being territorial?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Haven’t you wondered why he and I can be together right now? Why we’re not trying to kill one another?”

“Aren’t you his apprentice or whatever?”

“No. It’s not that. He still has a stake in his heart.”

My stomach gives a sickened squelch. “I knew he was wounded, but I thought he was just recovering.”

“No,” she says. “I bandaged over the stake. It’s the only reason we aren’t trying to kill one another. But it’s slowly killing him.”

“And so you want to take the cure? To save him? That’s ridiculous.”

“Not just to save him. To save everyone. You and Carter. And everyone else.” She starts pacing like her thoughts are racing more quickly than her words. “Don’t you see? Sabrina is out there. Someone has to fight her.”

“Then we’ll fight her!”

“No. The only one of us who can win is Sebastian. This is his territory. He is stronger here than anywhere else. I can feel it. Even wounded, he’s the only one who can defeat her. But she’s powerful. And the only way he’ll be strong enough to fight her is if he takes that stake out. He’s not going to take it out as long as doing so would put me at risk. That means I can’t be here. Not like I am. The only solution is for me to take the cure. If we’re lucky, I’ll become human again and he’ll have time to recover at least a little bit before Sabrina breaks through the security system.”

My gut tells me that this is a bad idea. A horrible idea. But I don’t know how to argue with Mel’s logic. “Maybe she won’t.”

“She will. She’s going to do everything in her power to find her way in. And if she does, she’s either going to take Carter and kill you and Sebastian or she’ll do those things and then destroy the cure.”

“You don’t know that she wants to destroy the cure,” I point out.

“It’s a safe bet. Don’t forget, I’ve been to her compound. She’s been doing well since the fall of civilization.”

“Carter says she hasn’t been doing that well. She has no kine left.”

“She had plenty of kine when we were there. At least it seemed like she did.”

“Why would she lie about that?”

“To him or to us?”

“To either of you.”

Mel takes a step closer to me then, looking more determined than ever. “This is why we can’t trust her. Why we can’t leave it to chance. Why you and I have to do something to fix this.”

“So you’re just going to give up all your strength and all your power to protect him and you’re just going to trust that Sebastian is going to protect you?” This goes against every feminist bone in my body. Our mother would be horrified.

But Mel’s lips just curve into a smile. “You forget, I had power and strength before. It was a different kind of power and strength, but it was mine. It’s the power I was meant to have.”

“But you said you liked the person you are now.”

She shrugged. “Well, maybe when this is all over, when we’ve defeated Sabrina and any other vampire that comes along, maybe after we’ve cured the Ticks and the world is back the way it’s supposed to be, maybe I’ll take a tae kwon do class or something.”

I feel a hysteria rising up in my chest, because I so can’t imagine Mel taking tae kwon do. In fact, I can’t imagine how this person in front of me is Mel at all.

But, somehow she is. And she’s just as stubborn as she’s ever been.

I throw out one last protest, because I can’t just let it go. “We don’t even know for sure if the cure would work on you!”

“I know it will. It’s what he originally made the cure to do.”

“It could kill you.”

“It won’t. It’ll work.”