Hourglass

I’d been so frightened for Mom and Dad that I hadn’t stopped to consider how frightened they must’ve been for me.

I must have looked stricken, because Lucas gave me a quick hug. “We’ll get through to them soon. You can write them or something. See, it’s going to be okay.”

“I know. It’s just hard.”

“Yeah.” We kissed—a simple kiss, but the first one we’d shared in any privacy in far too long. In that moment, our exhaustion and worry didn’t hold us back; we were together again, alone again, remembering everything we’d given up to be together—and reveling in it. His arms wrapped tightly around me as he leaned me backward. The whole world felt off balance except him. If I held on to him, I’d never go wrong.

Lucas is mine, I thought. Mine. Nobody can take this away from me.

By the time we reached New York, it was nighttime. When we first saw the Manhattan skyline in the distance, we all whooped and cheered. It looked pretty spectacular. To me, New York was almost more like a mythological place than a real one—it was where all the movies and TV shows happened, and the street names we were supposed to look for as we drove had a magical ring to them: 42nd Street. Broadway.

Then it occurred to me that Manhattan is an island, and I shivered at the thought of having to cross a river again. But instead we drove in through a tunnel, which was fine. For some reason, going beneath the water made a difference. I wished I’d asked my parents why.

We came out of the tunnel practically right in Times Square, which glittered and shone so much that I was dazzled. The others laughed at me, but I could tell they were kind of caught up in the excitement, too.

But it turned out that after a few dozen blocks, Broadway wasn’t so ritzy any longer. The bright lights dimmed, and we drove past apartment building after apartment building, stacks of them looming up around us like walls. The stores changed from posh cosmetics boutiques or family restaurants to 99-cent stores and fast-food joints.

Finally, the caravan turned into a parking garage, one that posted its incredibly expensive prices outside. The attendant waved us through, so we didn’t have to pay. The garage was definitely dirty and out of the way, so its rates were far too high—and sure enough, no other cars seemed to be parked inside.

I glanced at Lucas, who said, “Welcome to New York’s HQ.”

Everyone climbed out of the vans and trucks sort of sluggishly; we hadn’t stopped to stretch our legs on the trip, just a couple of very brief gasoline-and-bathroom breaks after lunch. We were herded into an enormous industrial elevator, which sank downward. The elevator’s walls were dull, scratched steel, and the light overhead flickered fitfully.

Feeling nervous, I took Lucas’s hand. He squeezed my fingers between his. “This part is going to be okay,” he said. “I promise.”

It’s not forever, I reminded myself. This is just until Lucas and I have a chance to make some plans. Soon we’ll be off on our own, and everything will be all right again.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a cavern, and I gasped. The high, curved ceiling was illuminated by strings of those plastic-encased lights construction guys use at worksites. Voices echoed throughout the arched space. I blinked as I made out the silhouettes of people farther away from us. They all seemed to be in a sort of trench that ran throughout the cave—

My eyes adjusted to the gloom, and I realized that this wasn’t a cavern. We were in a subway tunnel.

This tunnel had to have been abandoned for a long time. Flooring of planks or slabs of concrete sat over where the tracks must have been, and I could see a few small footbridges that connected the two platforms on either side of the tunnel. A cracked tile sign on one wall read, in old-fashioned type, Sherman Ave.

At first I was so amazed by our new hideout that I didn’t notice how quiet the rest of the group had become. All of them were standing still, saying nothing. I wasn’t the only one unsure of my welcome, apparently.

A trim Asian woman, a few years older than Kate, walked up to us with two brawny guys—I wanted to call them guards—on either side. Her salt-and-pepper hair was pulled tightly back into a long braid, and every muscle in her arms and legs was cut. “Kate,” she said. “Eduardo. You guys made it, I see.”

“Some greeting,” Eduardo said. “Is everybody else too busy to say hello?”

“Everyone’s too busy to hear your excuse for that ridiculous raid on Evernight,” she snapped. I realized that the people milling about in the distance were deliberately ignoring us.

Eduardo’s eyes blazed. “We had word that the human students were in immediate danger.”

“You had one vampire’s word against two centuries of experience that says the Evernight vampires don’t kill while they’re there. And you used that as an excuse to lead an attack that could’ve cost the lives of as many kids as vampires. The only reason it didn’t is because you got lucky.”

Kate looked like she wanted to defend her husband, but she said only, “For those who haven’t met her, this is Eliza Pang. She runs this cell, and she’s welcomed us for a short stay.”

We’re here on charity, I realized. I didn’t much care—this wasn’t something I’d chosen, or anything I was going to have to deal with for long—but I knew Lucas would hate that. Sure enough, he had clenched his jaw and was staring stonily at the concrete beneath his feet. I wondered if he hated it more for his or his mother’s sake. We’d have to talk about it later.

No sooner had I thought that than Eliza said, “Eduardo said you had two new recruits. Who are they?”

Raquel stepped forward right away. “Raquel Vargas. I’m from Boston. Anything you guys can teach me, I want to learn.”

“Good.” Eliza didn’t smile, exactly—already I found it hard to imagine her ever smiling—but she seemed pleased. “Who else?”

I didn’t want to step forward, but there wasn’t really any way around it. “Bianca Olivier. I’m from Arrowwood, Massachusetts. I—um—” What was I supposed to say? “Thanks for having us.”

“You’re the one Kate told us about,” Eliza said. “The one who was raised by vampires.”

Great. “That’s me.”

“I bet we can learn a lot from you.” Eliza clapped her hands together. “Okay, the rest of you guys, we’ve set up bunks at the far end of the track. They’ll do for now. Newbies, follow me.”

Follow her where? I shot Lucas a worried glance, but he obviously didn’t know any more about it than I did. When Eliza stalked off, Raquel went with her, and I didn’t have much choice but to go along.

“Are we starting our training already?” Raquel said, as the three of us walked farther along the subway platform.

“Eager, aren’t you?” From the sound of her voice, Eliza apparently didn’t think Raquel would be so eager once she saw what was in store. “Nah, you’ve had a big day. You can start in the morning.”

We got to the end of the platform, and Eliza led us into what had obviously been a service corridor. It smelled of mud and rust, and I could hear water dripping in the distance. A small yellow sign informed me this place could serve as a nuclear fallout shelter. Good to know.

I asked, “So where are we going? Why aren’t we with the others?”

“We have some permanent cabins set up in here. They’re not luxurious, but they beat the hell out of the bunks the rest of your cell is taking. You’ll be living with us, twenty-four/ seven.”

“Why do we get those?” I nearly stumbled over the broken, uneven cement beneath us, but Raquel caught my elbow. “Why aren’t those for Kate and Eduardo?” I wondered if it was because Eduardo was in the doghouse and their shoddy housing was punishment. It was unfair to punish Lucas, Dana, and the others for Eduardo’s mistake.

Instead, Eliza said, “You guys are new to the routine. You don’t know the life, and we don’t know you. Living in close quarters is a good way to make sure you learn all about us, and we learn all about you.”

Finding opportunities to drink blood would be even harder in this environment. If I didn’t drink blood often enough, I’d react more strongly to sunlight, to running water, to churches—and every reaction had the potential to mark me as a vampire.

How was I supposed to keep my secret?

Chapter Four

THAT NIGHT AFTER LIGHTS OUT, RAQUEL WHISpered, “The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?”

I knew what she meant. A week ago, she and I had been roommates at Evernight Academy. Now everything else in our life had been transformed, but we were still sleeping in beds that were side by side. And I guess this counted as a bed.

We’d been given a room like no other I had ever seen. Apparently, when the engineers had abandoned this subway tunnel, they’d also abandoned a few old train cars. The Black Cross cell had refitted those to serve as cabins. Our bunks sat on top of what had once been the seats, and steel poles ran from the floor to the ceiling, like we were at stripper boot camp or something. Raquel and I had about a third of a car to ourselves, with a makeshift metal wall to give us privacy on one end and the back of the car on the other.

“I miss having your collages on the walls,” I said. The windows on the sides of the car had been whitewashed, but they were blank and cold. “And my telescope. And our books and our clothes—”

“That’s just stuff.” Raquel propped herself up on one elbow. Her short dark hair stuck out in all directions, and if I’d been feeling any less forlorn, I might’ve teased her about it. “What matters is that we’re finally doing something important. Vampires have screwed up both our lives, and ghosts—I’m not even going there. Now we can strike back. That’s worth the sacrifice.”

I knew I didn’t dare trust Raquel with the truth, but I wanted her to understand a little of what I was really feeling. In a small voice, I said, “My parents took good care of me.”

Raquel said nothing. I’d caught her off guard, and I could tell she didn’t know what to think.

“And Balthazar—he was kind to me. To both of us.” I thought that might help convince her.

Instead, she sat up straight, energized by anger so immediate that it shocked me. “Listen, Bianca. I won’t pretend to understand what you’ve been through. I thought I’d had it rough, but finding out the people you thought were your parents were really vampires—that’s the worst.”

I had to let her go on believing that, so I remained silent.

She continued, “They kind of brainwashed you, okay? You’re going to keep making excuses for them for a long time. But the fact is, they screwed you over. Balthazar played their mind games right along with the rest of them. So wake up. Get your head straight. We aren’t kids anymore. We discovered that there’s a war on, and our place is here with the soldiers.”

Raquel was so absolute. So sure. I could only nod mutely.

“Okay,” she said. When she burrowed under her blanket, I figured our conversation was over for the night. It’s not like there was anything else I could share with her anyway. Then, very softly, she added, “I’ll make us a collage sometime soon.”

I smiled and hugged my pillow. “Something pretty. This place could use some pretty.”

“I was thinking more fearsome and wicked,” she said. “We’ll see.”

During the next couple of weeks, every day seemed to be exactly like the one before it and the next to come.

Lights came on at some crazy early hour of the morning. I didn’t know what time it was exactly, because we didn’t have clocks or cell phones. But I could tell from the way my whole body protested that it was too early for me.

Everybody got ready superfast. Basically, I hardly had time to do more than rinse myself off in the showers. And these were communal showers, too—like my worst gym class nightmare—but everybody was so businesslike and quick that I didn’t have much chance to feel self-conscious. Then we changed into our workout clothes and headed to their makeshift exercise area.

And stayed there. For hours.

Not everybody had to stay put, of course. The Black Cross people from New York, whose names were hardly more than a blur (ZackElenaReneeHawkinsAnjuliNathan), trained in the mornings, then set out on patrols after the night shift came in. They had maps of New York City up in the patrol area, with different routes marked out. Somebody was watching virtually every neighborhood of the city day and night. I knew that Lucas, Dana, and the others from our group were sometimes on those patrols, but not me and Raquel. No, we were expected to become fighters or die trying.

Me, I might’ve been happy to die trying. Dying seemed easier than trying to do a chin-up, much less five of them like they wanted.

“Come on, Olivier.” My trainer for the day, a red-haired woman named Colleen, held my feet as I struggled through my sit-ups. “Go for sixty.”

“Sixty?” My face was flushed, and I felt like I might vomit at any second. I’d just done forty. “I can’t.”

“You can’t until you can. Push for it.”

Sure enough, within a couple weeks, I could do sixty, though the last ten felt like raging hot death. Sadly I was still way short of having six-pack abs, which I felt like I was entitled to.

Other times, we were on the climbing wall, which was scary as hell—no, it wasn’t a cliff, but you could fall five or six feet, and that would definitely hurt. Or we ran—not laps, because there wasn’t a track—but up and down the long path they’d created on the old railway line. That I was better at, because I could get in the groove, shut down my worries, and sort of tap into the vampire side of myself—the unearthly strength and power that lurked down deep inside. I didn’t run superfast, because I didn’t want them to ask themselves how I could do that, but I could go and keep going, and that was usually enough to keep my trainer off my back.

This wasn’t just fitness camp. That I could’ve dealt with. Only mornings were for exercise. Afternoons were for something else.

Afternoons were about learning to kill vampires.

“The stake paralyzes,” Eliza said. She stood in the center of the room they called the sparring chamber, but I thought of as the Murder Zone. Raquel and I sat together near the front, while about ten others gathered around us. This kind of training apparently never stopped for the hunters. “You all know that. But a lot of hunters have been killed because they thought they’d staked a vampire, when all they’d done was get that vampire really mad. Tell me, Bianca, what did those hunters do wrong?”

I shrank, as if I could somehow duck the question. It didn’t work—Eliza fixed me with her stare, and I had to reply. My voice sounded strange to me as I said, “They—they didn’t pierce the heart.”

“Exactly. If you want to hit the heart, you have to know the right angle. Miss by a millimeter, the vampire is fine—and you’re dead.”

The other way, the vampire’s dead, I thought.

I wasn’t the naive girl I’d been a couple years ago, before Lucas entered my life. I no longer believed that all vampires refrained from killing humans, the way my parents and Balthazar did. Since meeting Charity, and seeing Mrs. Bethany in action, I’d been forced to learn that many vampires were deadly, even uncontrollable. That was part of why I’d decided never to make that first kill and become a full vampire.

But some vampires didn’t cause any trouble for humans. A lot of them, actually. They just wanted to be left alone.

Lucas had learned that truth; I trusted him not to fight any vampire who didn’t need to be fought. The rest of the people in this room believed that all vampires were pure evil and would kill them on sight—no questions asked.

Not that Black Cross hunters didn’t know anything about vampires, because they understood a lot, so much that it shocked me. They not only knew about Evernight Academy but also about other vampire sanctuaries around the globe. They knew about our sensitivity to churches and consecrated ground of any faith. They even knew some facts that many vampires believed to be legend—for instance, that holy water burned us. (Most vampires who had been doused with holy water were just fine, but it turned out that was only because most holy men weren’t committed enough to their god to transform the water. Black Cross had found true believers, who could make true holy water that seared vampire skin like acid.)

But for every fact Black Cross had, there was another bit of misinformation. They thought all vampires were evil. They believed that all vampires belonged to violent, marauding tribes; although tribes were real, only a small minority of vampires ever joined one. They thought our consciences died along with our bodies. So they had no problems with the idea of killing us. It was beyond strange to watch them practicing: stabbing the dummies with the stakes at different angles, with different holds.

What was even weirder was practicing the moves myself.

I tried imagining that my assailant was Charity—that she was attacking Lucas again, and I was the only one who could stop her—and then I could shove the stake straight into the target, earning a puff of sawdust and applause from the other hunters. That didn’t make it any less creepy.

The best part of the day was the evenings right before night patrol set out, because that was when I learned about loading and repairing weapons—and was the only time I was able to spend with Lucas.

“It’s like we’re prisoners,” I whispered as he showed me how to reload a crossbow. “Do you get out?”

“Only on patrol.” Lucas handed me the crossbow, so I could try for myself. After a quick glance around the room to make sure nobody was listening, he said, “Are you okay for—well, for food?”

“I could use a big meal—seriously use one—but I’m hanging on.”

“How?”

I sighed. “They let us hang out on the rooftop of the parking garage sometimes, for breaks. Most days I can grab a couple minutes alone.”

Lucas didn’t get it. “And?”

“All I’m going to say is that there are tons of pigeons in New York, and they’re not very fast. Okay?”

He grimaced, but in a way that made a joke of his disgust, and I giggled. The laugh echoed back from the curved ceiling of the tunnel. Lucas’s expression softened. “There’s that smile. God, have I missed seeing you happy.”

“I just miss you.” I put one hand over his, so that they were both folded over the crossbow. “I see even less of you than I did when we were forbidden to be together. How long do we have to put up with this?”

“I’m working on it, I promise. Coming by the money is hard, but I’ve set aside a little over the past few months. Not enough to get us started, but I’m close. Once I pay my dues and get more free time, I can pick up some work around town. Odd jobs for cash under the table.”

“What does that mean, cash under the table?”

“It means they pay less than minimum wage, but in return, neither you nor the boss reports it on your taxes.”

That would be hard work, then. Dirty work, like hauling boxes or garbage. I hated that Lucas had to do that—but I kind of loved that he would do that for us.

“This doesn’t look much like practice to me,” Kate said, strolling in our direction.

“Give us a break, Mom,” Lucas said. “Bianca and I hardly get to talk anymore.”

“I know it’s hard.” Her voice sounded softer than I’d heard it before. “When your father and I first met, it was in the New Orleans cell. They were such tight-asses they made this place look like a free-for-all. If I saw him five minutes a day, that was a good day.”

Lucas was very still. I knew that Kate didn’t talk about his real father much. With barely concealed eagerness, he asked, “So you guys—you went on patrol together sometimes?”

“Sometimes.” Kate half turned from us, stern again, and the moment seemed to have passed too soon. “Eliza says you’re shaping up, Bianca. How about you join us on patrol soon?”

“Really?” Lucas looked psyched, because we’d finally have a few minutes to be alone. I wanted to be as excited as he was—I missed him so much most nights I felt crazed—but the thought of joining a vampire-hunting patrol scared me.

Kate didn’t notice our reactions. She simply said, “How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” Lucas repeated.

I hugged him quickly, but I didn’t shut my eyes. Instead I watched the hunters around us, sharpening their knives.

It wasn’t like I didn’t have any way out of it. I could’ve claimed I had a headache or felt nauseated or something like that. But I needed fresh blood, and, even more than that, I needed to spend some time with Lucas.

So that meant I pretty much had to begin my career as the world’s first-and-only vampire vampire hunter.

Eliza said our first time out should be a standard patrol, someplace all the regulars already knew by heart. Given my movie-based knowledge of New York, which owed a lot to romantic comedies, our patrol location made no sense to me. “Vampires in Central Park? The place with all the carriage rides?”

Lucas smiled a little. “It’s a bigger place than you think. And the farther north you go, the wilder it gets.”

We got off our transport (a repurposed tour bus) and spread out in the park. The summer night felt warm, but comfortably so, a slight breeze stirring the air like a sigh. I looked up hopefully for a glimpse of the stars, but the city lights completely obliterated them.

“I’m with Bianca,” Lucas said as everyone started to scatter.

Eduardo frowned. “This is not an excuse for you two to sneak off.”

For once, Eliza and Eduardo seemed to be on the same page. “Is this going to be a problem with you two?”

Lucas’s temper flared, making his eyes blaze. “If you think I’d distract Bianca while we’re in a known vampire hunting zone, you’re crazy. I wouldn’t put her in danger. Period.”

Kate cut in, “Let them go. Come, we need to move—it’s getting late.”

Raquel gave me an excited wave as she and Dana headed south, disappearing into the park. The rest of the team mostly headed in that direction, too, but Lucas and I remained just within the park.

We stood quietly, using our enhanced hearing to judge how far away everyone else was and when we were really and truly alone. Then we looked at each other, and the rush of exhilaration hit me. These were the moments I hung on for, the ones that made all the hard work and loneliness worthwhile.

Lucas embraced me as he kissed my hair, then my forehead, then my lips. His warm scent made me feel as if we weren’t in a park but in the center of a vast forest, as alone as if we were the only people in the world. I opened my mouth beneath his, eager to deepen the kiss, but he pulled back. “Hey. What I said to Eduardo and Eliza—I wasn’t kidding. We can’t afford to get distracted around here.”

I breathed out in frustration. “Are we ever going to ‘get distracted’ again?”

“God, I hope so.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “Because I could really, really use some distraction around now.”

Lucas’s hands tightened around my shoulders, and he got this incredible look on his face, like he could eat me up that second. I knew the danger was real, but that only intensified the thrill.

His voice rough, he said, “Soon.” Then he let go of me, jaw clenched, like he had to force himself to do it.

Sighing, I took a few steps back. I was more elated than let down; as badly as I missed being alone with Lucas, we’d been forced to learn a lot of self-control. Seeing how much he wanted me was exhilaration enough.

Well, not quite. But close.

“So, how do we start looking for vampires?” I asked. I could hear that there were others in the park, not all that far from us, but the footsteps sounded normal. Were we waiting for a scream?

Lucas pulled out one of his stakes, but lazily, and he simply turned it around in his hand. “This is a place where new vampires come to hunt. People who come to the park long after dark—especially up here, this far from the carriage rides or the zoo or the track—usually do it for stupid reasons.”