He shuffled away, back toward the farmhouse, leaving me to stare at the monster that had been Joe and feel completely and utterly sick.
My eyes burned, and I felt something hot slide down my cheek. I didn’t wipe it away this time, and more followed, burning crimson paths down my skin. The rabid watched me, cold and calculating. It had stopped throwing itself against the bars and now huddled against the back corner, unnaturally still, a coiled spring ready to be unleashed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to it, and it bared its fangs at the sound of my voice. “I did this. You’d still be alive if I hadn’t bitten you. I’m so sorry, Joe.”
“I knew it,” someone hissed behind me.
I whirled. Ruth peered at me from around the corner of the woodshed, her brown eyes wide with shock.
Chapter 17
We stared at each other, frozen in time. As our eyes met, I became aware of the small things happening around us: the drip of rabid drool hitting the ground, the lines of blood smeared across my cheek.
Then Ruth stepped back and took a breath.
“Vampire!”
The cry echoed off the woodshed, carrying over the rain, as Ruth turned to flee. Behind me, the rabid shrieked in response, and my vampire nature surged up with a roar. I lunged forward on instinct. Before the girl could take a single step, I was in front of her, slamming her back into the wall, fangs bared to their fullest. Ruth screamed.
“Shut up!” I snarled, even as I caught myself from lunging forward, from driving my fangs into her slender throat. The vampire within howled a protest, urging me to bite, to kill. Shaking from holding myself back, I glared at her, curling my lips from my teeth. “That was you by my room last night, wasn’t it?” I demanded. “I thought I heard someone on the stairs. You’ve been snooping around me all this time, just waiting for something to happen.”
“I knew it,” Ruth panted, shrinking back from me, her expression caught between defiance and terror. “I knew there was something wrong about you. No one believed me, but I knew. Zeke will put your heart on a platter when he finds out, vampire bitch.”
I hissed, leaning close, baring my fangs in her face. “You’re awfully smug for someone who’s about to die.”
She turned white. “You can’t!”
I smiled, showing teeth, unsure if I was serious or not. “Why not?”
“Zeke will know!” Ruth cringed, panicked now, throwing up her arms to protect herself. “And so will Jeb! You can’t kill me.”
“I’m a vampire!” I snarled, on the verge of losing it. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Allison!”
I froze, feeling the world stop for a fraction of a second. In that heartbeat, a torrent of emotion rushed through me, almost too fast to recognize. Horror, anger, guilt, regret. What was I doing? What the hell had come over me? I looked at Ruth in a daze, dismay and revulsion spreading through me. Another second, and I might have killed her.
But worst of all…
Dropping my hands, I turned slowly…to face Zeke standing a few yards away. His gun was drawn, angled at my heart.
We stared at each other, silent in the falling rain. For another surreal moment, I felt a stab of déjà vu, flashing back to our first meeting in the abandoned town. But unlike that first time, Zeke’s eyes were stony, his mouth pulled into a grim line. This time, he was serious.
“Let her go, vampire.”
My insides cringed, hearing that word from him, cold, hard and unyielding. “Why should I?” I challenged. “You’ll shoot me as soon as she’s clear.”
He didn’t deny it, just continued to watch me, eyes glittering through the rain. I waited a moment longer, then slumped in resignation.
“Get out of here,” I told Ruth without looking at her, and she didn’t pause. Scrambling away from the woodshed, she fled to Zeke’s side, glaring back at me with wide, hate-filled eyes.
“Go get Jeb,” Zeke ordered in a calm voice, never taking his gaze off me. “Alert the rest of the house, but don’t come back to help, Ruth. Stay inside, keep the kids close, and lock the doors, understand?”
She nodded and fled back toward the house, already screaming. I tensed as her shrill voice echoed over the rain. In a few minutes, every male in the compound would be rushing at me with axes and pitchforks and firearms. I had to get out of here, but first, I had to deal with Zeke.
I drew my sword, and he stiffened, pulling his machete as well, still keeping the pistol trained unwaveringly at my center. I gazed at him and fought the despair threatening to crush me. I was going to have to fight him. Zeke wasn’t going to let me go, not after what I’d done to Ruth. I’m sorry, I wanted to tell him, knowing he wouldn’t care. I’m sorry it ended this way. But you’re not going to let me walk out, and I’m not going to stand here and die, even for you.