City of Whispers (City of Whispers #1) (10 page)

Scott pulled the door open a few inches, the brown
fingers disappeared and he slammed it shut again. We rushed over to help him,
but he yelled at us. “Get inside, get to the kids, I’ll follow as soon as
you’re in.”

Paulo ran to the door and started knocking. I could
tell he was trying not to scare the kids too badly, but he still sounded very
panicked. “John, Rebecca, it’s Paulo, please let us in.”

A sobbing little boy’s voice answered, “The
vampires...where’s Daddy?”

“We killed the vampires, buddy, and we’ll find your
Daddy, but please let us in now okay?”

I heard two separate locks click. The door opened and
a little face peered around.

“Watch out guys, we’re coming in!” Paulo scooped
Rebecca and John off the ground and rushed into the apartment with James close
behind him.

James turned around. “Ailis, Scott, come on now!”

“Go!” Scott waved me toward the apartment.

“I want to kill them,” I said evenly as I stared at
the door.

“Now is not the time, get your ass inside!”

“I’ll go in when you move away from the door.”

“Fine, now go!” Scott jumped away from the door and
ran toward me. The door flew open behind him. As much as I felt like killing
some more vampires, I rushed toward James and the apartment.

As I reached the doorway I turned around to make sure
Scott was behind me and stopped dead. One of the vampires...it couldn’t be...it
was dark and my eyes were playing tricks on me...

Before I had time to think about it or get a good
look, Scott shoved me into the apartment and James slammed the door and locked
it. I slumped against the wall and sank to the floor.

Scott pointed his stake at me. “You’re crazy you know
that?”

“What because I want to kill something that’s trying
to kill me...that’s trying to come after little kids?” I shot back.

“That’s fine, but maybe try to have a little common
sense about it, okay?”

“Whatever, I killed two vampires at once while you
kept a door shut.” I felt bad as soon as I said it. Scott had been the last one
left in that dark stairwell and he had planted himself against the door in a
vulnerable position so that we wouldn’t be attacked from behind. If three or
four vampires had come through the door he wouldn’t have had a chance.

Scott just sighed and took his pack off his back.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That was a stupid thing to say.
You saved our butts.”

“Yeah, I know.” He tried to smile. “Anyway, you’re
turning into quite the vampire slayer. Common sense or not I’m glad to have you
on my team.”

“Did you kill Mommy?” John suddenly asked. I had
almost forgotten about the kids.

“Umm, no, of course not,” Paulo said.

“She’s a vampire, you know,” Rebecca said. “She was
here before...right before Daddy left.”

“Well let me see a picture of her,” Paulo said.

Rebecca pointed over to a bookshelf with a picture of
the whole family. Paulo walked over. “Well she’s very pretty, but she
definitely wasn’t one of the vampires outside.”

I got up and walked over. They were a cute family, and
Sophie looked so human. How could someone like that turn into something that
would kill its own family?

“Did you find Daddy?” John asked.

“No, sorry, pal.” Paulo picked him up and sat down on
the sofa. “But I bet we didn’t see him because he’s hiding somewhere—somewhere
the vampires can’t find him.”

John seemed skeptical, but didn’t say anything else.

“You know what,” Paulo said, trying to sound cheerful.
“Let’s call Beth on the radio. I want to tell her we’re all safe and what a
great job you guys did helping us into the apartment.”

This seemed to distract the kids. While they worked on
the radio I went over to the door and listened. I could hear whispering just
outside. I considered opening the peephole, but then I heard a scraping sound,
as if someone was running fingernails down the door.

“We know you’re there.” The voice was so low I
couldn’t tell whether it was male or female. “We know you won’t come out.
You’re so frightened...so very, very frightened.”

I stepped back. Had I really seen what I thought I saw
in that split second in the hallway?

Scott came up and put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m
guessing they’re still out there?”

“Yes, one of them was taunting me.”

“That door is strong, I don’t think we have to worry.
There’s absolutely no reason to risk going back tonight, we can stay locked up
in here until morning.”

“And Tony?”

“He got himself into this mess. I only came over here
for the kids. I’m not putting my neck on the line for a guy that doesn’t have
the sense to keep himself or his kids safe.”

I felt bad for Rebecca and John, but I agreed with
Scott. I wasn’t going on a suicide mission for a crazy person, especially when it
meant leaving the kids alone again.

We returned to the living room where Paulo and the
kids were saying good night to Beth. Paulo volunteered to put the kids to bed
and James declared that he was exhausted. The kids still looked scared so James
told them he would sleep by their bedroom door. They showed him to a closet
with some sleeping bags and he stationed himself by their door. Paulo said he
would join him with another sleeping bag as soon as the kids were asleep.

Scott and I blew out the candles in the living room
and let our eyes adjust. We could still hear faint whispering in the hallway.
We walked over to the window and peered out, lifting the curtains. There were
three vampires milling around our Escalade. We shut the curtains again.

“Looks like we attracted some attention on the way
over,” I whispered.

Scott nodded. “How many do you think there are?”

“Well there were three out by the car, I’d bet at
least three or four in the hallway...”

Scott shook his head. “No, in Manhattan.”

“I have no idea. There were a lot just in my building,
but that could have been from that creepy tunnel in the basement. Leave it to
me to live in vampire-central.”

“I agree. The more I think about it, the more I think
that tunnel led to the subway, and I think that’s where most of them are
hiding.”

“We just drove twenty blocks and brought a lot of
attention to ourselves and there still aren’t that many out there. Think of how
many people died from the virus, or were just straight up killed. No wonder
they won’t let us out. Sometimes I still wonder how the government kept it
quarantined so well.”

We sat in silence for a while. After about half an
hour, we could hear movement on the street. Scott got up and went to the window
again. I joined him. There were now four vampires huddled by our Escalade.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Scott said. He picked up
the crossbow and loaded it.

“You don’t think that will attract more attention?” I
asked.

“They already know we’re here. I’m sure they know
we’re in your building every night, they just can’t get to us. They need to
know that we’re dangerous too.”

I wasn’t sure this was a wise idea, but the apartment
was well fortified and we certainly couldn’t attract any more attention than we
already had. Besides, Scott appeared determined.

He walked over to the living room window and opened
it. The window made a loud squealing noise and all four vampires on the street
looked up. When they saw us, their eyes grew wide with hunger and they began to
make soft hissing noises, or maybe it was just their breathing speeding up at
the sight of fresh prey.

Scott steadied the crossbow against the windowsill.
The vampires watched, looking puzzled. Not one of them moved.

Suddenly, Scott released the stake and the largest
male vampire fell to the ground. The other three vampires, two males and one
female, shrieked when they saw their companion fall, but made no move to help
him.

Scott quickly loaded a new stake and dropped another
male. The other two finally had the sense to take cover behind the car. We
stayed by the window and waited.

“What the hell are you doing?” James asked.

I jumped. “What does it look like we’re doing?” I
whispered. “Scott wanted to have a little target practice. Did we wake the
kids?”

“
Now
you think of the kids.” James scowled and
shuffled off to check on them.

I turned back to the window just as a female burst out
of the front door of the building. She screamed when she saw the bodies, but
before she had a chance to fully turn around and look up at us, Scott had shot
her through the back. The two vampires behind the Escalade shrieked again, but
stayed put.

Then there was a loud commotion outside the apartment
door. The vampires in the hallway must have looked out another window, or heard
what was going on outside. They began to beat on the apartment door, shrieking
like banshees.

I grabbed a stake and rushed the door, my heart
pumping out of my chest. I swear if there hadn’t been children in that
apartment I would have flung the door open and fought everything that was in
that hallway.

Instead, I beat on the door from my side and yelled,
“That’s right, you want some of this too? Who’s scared now? You really want to
come in here?”

Suddenly James was behind me and grabbed my elbow.
“Jesus Christ, Ailis, what is wrong with you? You want to get us killed?”

“I’m not getting anybody killed,” I snapped
defensively. “Obviously I wasn’t going to open the door.”

“No, that wasn’t obvious to me. You’ve already woken
the kids and they’re terrified, now will you both settle down?”

I pulled my arm away. “Fine, I’m sorry. We got a
little carried away.”

Scott looked sheepish. “They were gathering outside
the apartment,” he tried to explain. “I wanted to get rid of them.”

James rolled his eyes, but the noise outside the
apartment door had stopped, and when we looked out the window again the two
vampires behind the Escalade had gone.

After a few minutes, Paulo came in and said the kids
had gone back to sleep. Apparently, they were used to noisy nights.

I walked over to Scott as he was closing the window.
“You were right,” I said. “I think they need to learn that we aren’t just prey.
I don’t intend to live at the bottom of anyone’s food chain.”

13

The next morning, as soon as the sun came up, we moved the dead vampires out of
the hallway and took the kids back to my building to stay with Beth and Kim.
They kept asking about their dad, and we promised to turn right around and go
find him. I don’t think any of us had high hopes of finding him alive. I felt
bad for the guy, he’d been through a lot, but I was also pissed that he would
go off and leave his kids alone after they had already lost their mother.

After grabbing a bite to eat and making sure the kids
were settled in, James, Paulo, Scott, and I headed back over to Tony’s
apartment building. The day was cloudy and I could smell the rain in the air.
The most obvious place to start was Tony’s apartment. If he had made it through
the night unhurt, we assumed he would return to check on his children.

He wasn’t there, so we began to walk through each of
the floors, calling Tony’s name. We started with the floor above Tony’s
apartment, and I had only called his name twice when I heard a soft whimpering
noise from an unnumbered door. We cautiously walked down the hallway toward the
door, which looked like it led into a utility closet or to the building’s
garbage chute.

As we approached the door it started to open slowly.
“Tony?” I called out. “If that’s you please say something.”

Tony poked his head around the door. He looked like he
had been crying. “Are Rebecca and John alright?” he asked weakly.

James looked furious. “No they’re not alright, they
probably think they’re orphans by now you
sonofabitch
.
What the hell were you thinking? What kind of—”

Paulo interrupted. “They’re fine Tony, just a little
shaken up. Are you hurt?”

Tony shook his head. “I know it was stupid, but she
was out here and I had to put her out of her misery. I couldn’t stand leaving
this building, and leaving her like this.”

“Really?” James raised his voice. “You couldn’t leave
her, but you could leave your kids alone with a pack of vampires at the door?”

Tony started crying. “Sophie...”

“Yeah, I got that. I’m saying—”

“Okay James,” I cut him off. “I’m mad too, but let’s
just get him back to his apartment and let the kids know he’s okay.” As Tony
opened the door farther, I saw that it was indeed a utility closet in which he
was hiding. The body of a female vampire lay on the floor. I assumed it was
Sophie.

Everyone looked tense, but Tony shook his head. “She’s
dead,” he said quietly. “I killed her last night.”

“You told us you never saw her again,” Scott
said.  “But she’s been here the whole time hasn’t she…in your building?”

Tony nodded. “She came to the apartment every night.
She whispered to me through the door. She begged me to come out, to let her see
the kids, but I was too afraid.”

“But you wouldn’t move, or even let us take your kids
away.” James looked like he was getting angry again. “Instead you let them stay
here with their vampire mother coming to the goddamn door every night and then
everyone risks their necks—”

Paulo cut him off again. “Please James. Let’s just
take care of Sophie and get Tony to his apartment.”

Paulo and I agreed to take Tony downstairs while James
and Scott dealt with the body.

“I didn’t want to leave her in that condition,” Tony
told us as we walked down the stairwell. “But I didn’t want to kill her. What
if they find a cure?”

“You did what you had to do to protect your kids,” I
tried to reassure him. At the same time I was focused on shining my flashlight
around the stairwell to make sure nothing snuck up on us. Enough light came
through the windows so that I doubted any vampires could be there, but I wanted
to be sure. “You couldn’t let her follow them to the next place. You couldn’t
let them see her like that, or risk one of your kids opening the door when you
turned your back.”

Tony shuddered. “I know, I know, but maybe I could
have helped her. She knew who I was. She even went upstairs so I could open the
door. I would never have opened it if she had kept standing right outside the
door...with the kids in there and all. But when I was out, I couldn’t talk to
her, she attacked me. I didn’t really want to hurt her.”

“Of course not,” Paulo said as we walked onto Tony’s
floor.

I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance and
cringed. The light outside was dim and the hallway was even darker. The place
was looking spookier by the minute, especially with the door down the hall
standing partially open. I could have sworn every door was closed when we went
upstairs. Paulo didn’t seem to notice as he walked with Tony to his apartment
and tried to comfort him.

I followed Tony and Paulo into Tony’s apartment and
poked around just to make sure nothing had gotten in while we were gone. Before
calling Beth, Paulo told Tony that we had to check him. It was an awkward
moment. If Tony had been bitten, we weren’t going to tell his kids he was fine
and bring him back to our building.

Tony shrugged. “I wasn’t bitten, and I wouldn’t put my
kids in danger if I was. Feel free to check me all over.”

Tony’s neck was clean and then he stripped down just
to show us he hadn’t been bitten anywhere else. I stood a respectful distance
away while Paulo checked him out. Tony hadn’t lied. He had not been bitten.
Paulo got on his
walkie
talkie and called Beth to
tell her we had found Tony, and Tony asked to talk to his kids before he
started packing some things up.

“I’m going to go see if the guys need help,” I lied.

“Why don’t we just call them?” Paulo gestured toward
the
walkie
talkie.

“No, no, let him talk to his kids,” I said. “Besides,
I need some fresh air.” I was already walking out of the apartment. I shut the
door behind me and stared at the partially open door down the hallway. Why
didn’t I tell Paulo about the door? Why didn’t I tell him what I had seen last
night? Because I knew he would react just as we had all reacted to Tony. He
would have told me I was crazy and he would have tried to stop me.

I told myself I wasn’t like Tony, but this was
something I had to do on my own. I took out a stake and walked toward the open
door. The closer I got, the more certain I was about who and what I had seen
the night before and the more certain I was that he was inside, waiting for me.
I could almost hear his breathing.

The apartment was completely dark. I pushed open the
door, but it had become so dark outside that it barely helped.

Rain began beating against the window. There was a
flash of lightning, and I thought I saw him just ahead in what looked like the
living room. A few seconds later a clap of thunder rumbled through the room.
The storm was moving closer.

Suddenly, I heard a scratch and then a hiss. I tensed
and was ready to strike at anything until I realized the room had become a
little brighter, it was only a match.

He leaned over, lit a candle, and smiled at me. It was
him—Desmond—and when he smiled I could see his pearly fangs glistening in the
candlelight.