City of Whispers (City of Whispers #1) (18 page)

I went back to my apartment and peered out the window.
Several vampires had gathered across the street. I had half a mind to walk
right out the front door with a couple of stakes and kill them where they
stood. I was exhausted and wide awake at the same time. I hated every vampire
in the city so much I felt my blood would boil.

After a short time, the commotion upstairs stopped. I
wondered if Scott would tell the others what I had said to Leila. I wondered if
he would come downstairs and chew me out for how I had acted. A part of me
hoped that he would.

I didn’t want to be alone. I had already suspected
Leila had been imprisoned by the vampires, but now that it seemed confirmed by
her knowledge that I had been bitten, the idea of people in the subway tunnels
was even more terrifying. Desmond had been telling me the truth. I tried to
wrap my mind around the idea that there were humans down there living like
cattle. There might even be people I knew. I was appalled.

I waited for Scott to come knock on my door, but he
never did. I debated whether I should go to his apartment. I thought I had
heard someone come downstairs, but I didn’t know whether it was him. Several
times I went to my door to open it, then changed my mind.

Finally, I accepted that I was going to go another
night without sleep. I could only think of one way to pass the time. My
apartment must have been 100 degrees. I opened my bedroom window about halfway.
It didn’t help much with the heat, but there was a slight breeze. It wasn’t a
nice fresh breeze like you find outside of the city. It brought with it the
smell of rot and decay. It suited my mood perfectly.

I took out my crossbow, which I rarely used. Frankly,
I was better at fighting hand-to-hand and that’s how I preferred it. The
vampires on the street looked up at me in anticipation. I rested the crossbow
on the windowsill and aimed. Several of the vampires scattered. They weren’t
stupid, they knew what the crossbow was.

I found myself slightly disappointed. At least there
were three left that didn’t seem to understand. I aimed at the first one, a
pudgy man. It was difficult to tell his age because his skin was so mangled. He
could have been 50, or he could have been 15. He must have struggled when he
was attacked. Maybe in the end he had even killed the vampire that had attacked
him, but he couldn’t save himself from the virus. I shot him through the chest.
There was only a soft thud when his body hit the ground.

I loaded the crossbow again. This time I hit a tall,
blond man. The third vampire, also a man, seemed to finally realize the purpose
of my weapon and scurried away.

I waited at my window for a long time, sorely tempted
to go outside and look for trouble, but I didn’t. If I went out my window and
down the fire escape I would leave the entire building vulnerable, and I knew
if I went out the front door, whoever was sitting watch would alert the others
and people would come after me. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if someone
came after me and was killed.

It must have been 3:30 AM by that point. I didn’t hear
anything going on upstairs, not even pacing. I started to worry Leila had
seriously hurt herself. Finally I couldn’t stand it and went over to Scott’s
door and knocked. He must have had difficulty sleeping as well, because he
answered right away. He looked worn out.

“Ailis, is anything wrong?”

“No, I wanted to ask you the same thing. How’s Leila?”

Scott motioned for me to come inside and I did. “You
saw how upset she was, but it seems Beth has the magic touch. She and Paulo
were able to calm Leila down. Beth also had the genius idea to bring some wine.
We made Leila drink some and she started to relax. I left soon after that, but
I bet she’s asleep right now.”

I nodded. “I can’t hear anything going on up there
from my apartment any more. I feel so terrible about those things I said. It
was so stupid and I can’t believe—”

Scott interrupted, “I know Ailis. You were scared and
with good reason. Jesus, look at you, you haven’t slept in two nights, have
you?”

I shook my head. “That’s no excuse. I acted like a
crazy...”

Scott put his hand on my shoulder and led me to the
sofa where we both sat down. He reached up to my neck and gently tapped my
collar. I hadn’t taken it off after I left Leila’s apartment. “You don’t need
this here, Ailis. We’re all afraid. We’re afraid of what’s outside, we’re
afraid of each other sometimes. But you should know that you’re safe in here. I’ll
always watch out for you no matter what. Nothing will hurt you here.”

I hardly knew what to say. It wasn’t like Scott to
talk like that. “Scott you know I’ve got your back too.”

“Okay then.” He seemed to remember himself and started
to turn red. “You know, I think Beth had the right idea giving Leila wine. I
was a beer guy back in the day, but I had to throw it all out after we lost
power.”

I perked up a bit. “I still have wine. It’ll be warm
of course...”

“Excellent, I’ll take what I can get.”

I walked across the hall to my apartment. I grabbed a
bottle of
vinho
verde
, a
wine I had always enjoyed on hot summer nights. It was supposed to be chilled,
but like Scott, I would take what I could get. Although I had offered it to
others, I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol since the vampire epidemic began. I
never wanted to let my guard down or make myself vulnerable.

I took the wine back to Scott’s. I made a point of
removing my collar as soon as I walked in the door. I realized I had forgotten
wine glasses, but instead of going back to my apartment, we drank out of juice
glasses. Beth had the right idea. After one glass of wine I fell asleep on
Scott’s couch.

20

The next morning, I debated whether I should go to Leila’s apartment. Scott
advised me to go ahead and go see her. If she was going to make a scene we
didn’t want it to happen in Bryant Park in front of everyone else.

Scott came with me as I went upstairs to Leila’s
apartment. I knocked on the door and Beth answered. She and Paulo had ended up
staying the rest of the night. Naveen had also stopped by and re-bandaged
Leila’s arm.

Leila was sitting in a chair by the window. She looked
like an old woman warming herself in the sun. It was plenty hot in the
apartment without sitting in the sun, but Leila didn’t seem to mind. When she
saw me she drew back and Beth went to her side.

“Are you okay, Leila?” Beth asked. “You aren’t afraid
of Ailis, are you?” Apparently Scott hadn’t told anyone else about the things I
had said. I was grateful for that.

“Last night I asked her too many questions about where
she had been for the past two months. That’s what upset her,” I said to Beth.
Leila didn’t contradict me. “Leila, I’m very sorry about the things I said last
night, none of them were true.” I didn’t want to say too much in front of Beth.
“You know you’re safe here with us. No vampires have ever gotten into this
building since we cleared it out and we...
I
will never let them get in
to hurt you. Do you understand?”

Leila looked at me for a long time, as if she was evaluating
me, and then she nodded her head. “You kill lots of vampires, Ailis.”

“That’s right, Leila, and so do Scott and James and
Paulo and some of the others around here. If any try to set foot near our
building we kill them. I killed two last night that were hanging around. The
rest ran away they were so scared.”

Leila shuddered. “You were only scratched, Ailis.”

That made me feel very uncomfortable. “That’s right. I
was only scratched.” I looked at Beth. “I think she was afraid of me because I
was scratched before she disappeared. I think she thought I might be sick or
something.”

Leila looked from me to Beth and back at me. She
seemed to understand that my bite was a secret. Then she smiled at me and said
to Beth, “It’s okay, I understand now. I’m not afraid of Ailis.” Beth appeared
to accept this. Then Leila got up and came over and hugged me. She was so
child-like. I was glad she seemed ready to keep my secret, but part of me still
worried she would blurt it out in one of her more unstable moments.

“Can we go outside now?” Leila asked.

“Of course,” Scott said. “Let’s all get some fresh
air. This building is too damn hot.”

We gathered some snacks and drinks and headed to
Bryant Park. Leila took my arm on the walk. I was happy we had smoothed things
over, but I was still worried. I knew now that she had encountered Desmond.
What if he had made a deal with Leila to give me up in exchange for freedom? I
tried to push those thoughts from my head. There was no sense worrying about it
in the middle of the day.

Beth asked Leila again if she wanted to go to one of
the stores on the way and pick out some new clothes. Leila shook her head and
Beth didn’t bring the subject up again. The day was hot and sunny, so we spent
most of our time in the shade. Leila didn’t talk much, but I was able to
persuade her to join a game of gin rummy in the afternoon.

We asked her if she wanted to talk to her family on
the radio, but she declined. She didn’t even want to tell the man on the radio
that she was alive. This seemed strange, but we let her have her way. I don’t
think anyone wanted to upset her again. She had been through enough.

That night we took turns sitting up with Leila again,
but she stopped pacing so much and even slept for a few hours on the couch.
Over the next couple of days, she seemed almost happy. I hoped she would come
around once she became comfortable with the idea of being safe again.

Five days after Leila returned to us, she sat with me
in Bryant Park. The others were several yards away, engrossed in a game of
bocce ball. “Ailis, please don’t be upset,” she said.

“Why would I be upset?” I asked, wondering what she
was about to tell me.

“I knew you were bitten because I heard them talking
about it.”

“The vampires?”

She nodded, staring at the ground.

“I was walking to the park that day you were
scratched. I was practically here when I heard someone crying. It was coming
from the subway. I thought it was one of the kids, maybe they had fallen down
the stairs. I was so stupid...”

“Leila, it’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it.”
Although I desperately wanted to hear her story, I didn’t want to force her to
relive her trauma or risk another outburst.

She shook her head. “By the time I even saw the girl—a
human—it was too late. They had me. It was…I can’t even describe it. They moved
us around through the tunnels so that I had no idea where I ended up. They kept
us locked up anywhere they could. They kept us in the ticket booths, snack
stands, closets...” She paused. “If any of the vampires got greedy and tried to
eat out of turn, Desmond killed them.”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say.

Leila continued, “Desmond came in one night, really
sick. He had been gone all day, so I thought maybe he had been out in the sun.
I hoped he would die, then maybe the others would finish us off. I heard him
tell one of the women he’d found what he’d been looking for and that they’d
soon have a new friend named Ailis. When I heard your name I started screaming
at him and calling him names and I told him that you would find him and kill
him whether or not you were a vampire. I hoped he would get angry and kill me
or that maybe you really would come and find him and kill him before you
turned.”

I felt guilty. I had never made any effort to find out
whether Desmond’s story about the people in the subway tunnels was true. I was
too concerned for my own safety to go searching for anyone else.

“He told me that he would save me just for you, to
show me that there’s no going back once someone becomes a vampire.”

I shivered thinking what my fate would have been if I
had actually turned. My best hope would have been for Scott to kill me before I
could join the other vampires.

“Desmond kept waiting for you to show up, but you
never did. Then, just a little while ago—it was impossible to keep track of the
time down there—Desmond came in raging mad, but he wouldn’t tell anyone why. He
was covered in blood and screaming at anyone who came near him. He jerked one
of the people out of a makeshift cage and bit her. He said he wanted to see her
turn into a vampire. I didn’t understand. He usually tried
not
to turn
people into vampires. He kept her apart from the rest of us and after what
seemed like a couple of days, she started to turn. As soon as she did, Desmond
killed her.

“That night, after he killed the woman, he came over
to my ticket booth, and told me that he was going to set me free in the
morning. He had control over what went on in the tunnels, but he knew if he let
me out to wander around the city at night all bets were off. Toward the
morning, Desmond pulled me out of the ticket booth by my hair. He threw me to
the ground and told me to leave and go back to my people.

“I didn’t understand, I thought it was a trick, but he
started screaming at me and kicking me so I jumped up and ran up the stairs. I
kept falling because I hadn’t been able to run or walk for so long. Even though
it was early morning, the sunlight at the top was so blinding, I wondered
whether I had somehow turned into a vampire. I went straight to my apartment and
hid.

“As it started to get dark, I knew the vampires would
be coming out. I didn’t know why Desmond had released me, but I knew I could
never go back there. I took out a kitchen knife and cut my wrist. I was so weak
and dehydrated that I fainted. When I woke up, it was daylight. I thought I
might as well see who was still alive, so I wrapped up my wrist and came to the
park.”

“So Desmond just let you go?” I asked.

She nodded. “Honestly, I don’t know why, Ailis. It
must have had something to do with you. He must have found out you were alive
that night. He was so angry. But he didn’t tell me anything.”

I accepted Leila’s story, but didn’t know what to do
about it. “I really appreciate that you told me this Leila,” I said. “I want
you to know that you’re never going back there.”

She shook her head. “You can’t promise that.”

She was right, but I lied anyway, “I
can
promise you that Leila. You’ve been so brave, braver than I could have been. We
should have come looking for you...”

“No.” She shook her head harder. “Never go down there
Ailis, no matter what, and don’t ever let anyone else go, promise.”

I nodded and we sat in silence until James came over
to brag about his bocce ball skills. Leila seemed tired after telling her
story, so we let her alone to take one of her sunshine naps.

That night, Leila said she didn’t need anyone to stay
with her. She said she was finally feeling safe in our building. Although she
had seemed more lucid than ever that afternoon I didn’t like the idea. I was
suspicious. I told Scott what she had told me about the subway tunnels and
Desmond and he said he felt uncomfortable as well. Everyone else acted as if
they were relieved and proud of Leila. I kept trying to convince her to let us
stay up with her, but she insisted on staying by herself. I promised her that I
would keep my
walkie
talkie on in case she needed
anything.

I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept listening to the
noises upstairs, wondering what Leila was up to. At around 11, I thought I
heard a noise from Leila’s apartment. Was it a window opening? Surely not, she
was terrified of vampires. But, although she had seemed lucid that afternoon,
she still seemed unstable and based on her story I thought her capable of
anything.

Suddenly, my
walkie
talkie
crackled to life. “Ailis?” I heard Leila say through the static.

I picked up my
walkie
talked
and responded. “What is it Leila? Do you need anything?”

“I’m sorry, Ailis, I need you to do something.”

“Of course. Do you want me to come up?”

“Ailis, I need you to come up and bolt my window
closed.” Leila sounded calm, but I thought I heard something off in her tone.

“You need reinforcements, right?”

“I need you to close the window behind me Ailis, I
don’t want to leave the building vulnerable.”

“Leila don’t you dare go out there, I know you’re not
serious.” But I knew she was serious. I dropped the
walkie
talkie and grabbed my collar.

“I’m sorry, Ailis, but you need to come up now.”

I didn’t respond but rushed to my bedroom window and
peered out. There were two vampires outside. They were both looking up toward
the floor above me. I hurried over to my fire escape, but by the time I opened
the wooden reinforcement I kept over it, Leila was already out on the fourth
level of the fire escape. I put on my boots and collar and grabbed my pack of
stakes.

I didn’t want to leave the building more vulnerable
than it already was. I knew Leila’s fire escape window could only be fastened
from the inside. I secured my window again, ran across the hall, and pounded on
Scott’s door. Before he could open it all the way I shouted, “Leila’s outside!
Go upstairs and close her window,” and then I was racing down the stairs to the
front door.

James was sitting watch downstairs.  “What the
hell is going on?” he shouted at me as I reached for the door.

“Leila’s outside and I’m going out there, lock the
door behind me.”

“Are you as crazy as she is?”

“Yes,” I shouted over my shoulder as I dashed out the
door.

There had only been two vampires when I looked out my
window, an easy enough number to handle, but by the time I got outside there
were half a dozen. They must have been watching from nearby buildings, waiting
for us to do something stupid like this. Maybe they had been waiting for me
ever since Desmond found out I was still alive. I saw that Leila had only two
stakes.

“Leila,” I screamed at her, “go to the front door,
James will let you in, I’ll watch your back.”

She ignored me and I couldn’t reach her as I was being
charged by a tall female vampire. The vampire had long gangly arms and she
scratched at my face as she tried to grab me. I ducked out of her grasp and
spun around behind her to stake her in the back. She shrieked and fell to the
ground. I killed a male right behind her.

I turned just in time to see Leila stake a vampire.
“Good one!” I shouted, “Now get your ass back inside.” I rushed toward her, but
it was too late.

A female with long black hair grabbed Leila’s stake
wielding arm and sunk her teeth into Leila’s throat. Leila gasped and tried to
beat the vampire away with her other hand. I rushed over to her and staked the
vampire in the back. Leila sank to her knees. I couldn’t help her because there
were more vampires coming. Several dropped as if by magic. I looked up and saw
Dwayne and Paulo on Leila’s fire escape shooting at the vampires with
crossbows. Then I realized Scott and James were outside with us.