A steel kennel had been shoved against a wall, with only tiny barred slits for windows. Every so often, the box would shake as whatever was inside moved around, but it was too dark to see through the slits. The wooden floor was stained with old blood.
“Blood sport,” Zeke muttered as we hovered near the back. “This must be Jackal’s idea of entertainment. They place bets to see which animal comes out of it alive.” He looked around at the excited mob and shivered. “I don’t particularly want to see two dogs rip each other to pieces. We should look for the others.”
Before I could reply, a spotlight flicked on, shining down on the arena. I blinked. The stage had been empty a few seconds ago, I was sure of it. But a man now stood at the front, smiling at the crowd. He was tall, lean but muscular as well; I could see the cut of his chest beneath his shirt and faded leather duster. Thick black hair had been pulled into a ponytail, accenting a young, handsome face and smooth, pale skin. His eyes, sweeping over the crowd, were a lazy gold.
The man raised his arms as if to embrace us all, and the crowd went wild, roaring, beating on the floor, even firing their weapons into the air. And I suddenly knew. We had found him. This was Jackal, the vampire raider king.
“Good evening, minions!” Jackal bellowed, to a chorus of hoots and howls and screams. “I am in a fabulous mood tonight. What about you?” His voice carried easily over the noisy room, clear, confident and magnetic. Even the roughest bandit was hanging on his every word. “Never mind! I don’t really care how you feel, but thank you all for coming to this little spectacle. As you might’ve heard, we have some exciting news! For the past three-and-a-half years, we’ve been searching for something, haven’t we? Something important! Something that could change not only our world, but the entire world as we know it. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
I didn’t, but listening to the raider king speak, I felt a glimmer of recognition. Like I should know him from…somewhere, though I didn’t know why I felt that way. I was positive I’d never seen him before.
“Anyway,” Jackal continued, “I wanted to let everyone know that a few nights ago, our search finally came to an end. We have found what we’ve been looking for all this time.”
Zeke stiffened beside me. Behind Jackal, a pair of raiders pushed aside the curtain and shoved someone onto the stage. Jackal spun with shocking grace, grabbed the figure by the collar and dragged him forward, into the light.
Jebbadiah. His wrists were bound, and dark bruises covered his face and eyes, but he stood tall and proud next to the raider king, glaring at the mob with icy contempt. I put a warning hand on Zeke’s arm, in case he forgot where he was. With a few hundred raiders and only two of us, now was not the time for a suicide rescue.
The crowd booed and jeered as Jeb regarded them coldly, but Jackal smiled and threw an arm around his shoulders, patting his chest.
“Now, now,” he chided. “Be polite, all of you. You’ll make him think we don’t want him here.” Jackal grinned, looking entirely animalistic. “After all, this is the man who holds the key to your immortality. This is the man who will be responsible for our rise to glory. This is the man who is going to cure Rabidism for us!”
The crowd erupted into chaos, but I still heard Zeke draw in a sharp breath. Stunned, I turned to him, seeing him pale, as if he already knew. And suddenly, everything made a lot more sense.
“That’s why he’s been after you,” I hissed, leaning close to be heard over the howling mob. “He thinks Jeb can cure the virus, that’s why he’s hunted you for so long. Anyone would want that.” Zeke looked away, but I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “Does Jeb have the cure? Is that what you’ve been hiding, this whole time?”
“No,” Zeke rasped, finally turning to face me. “No, he doesn’t have the cure. There is no cure. But—”
I held up my hand, silencing him. The mob had finally quieted down. Jackal waited until the last few revelers had stopped, then turned to pat Jeb on the shoulder. “Unfortunately,” he went on in a sorrowful voice, “our good friend here is somewhat reluctant to share what he knows! Can you believe it? I have a lovely lab all set up, waiting for him for three years, with everything he needs or could possibly want, and he doesn’t seem to appreciate it.”
A chorus of loud boos and insults. Jackal held up a hand again.