“Your father. Who passed it on to you.” I suddenly remembered Kanin, sifting through the ruins of the old hospital, searching for something he would never find. Jeb didn’t answer, which spoke volumes, and I nodded slowly. “That’s the real reason you want to find Eden. You want a place to study that research, to find the cure.”
“If I died, it would have gone to Ezekiel,” Jeb murmured, a pained expression briefly crossing his face. “But he is gone, and there is no one left. And so, it will die with me. I will not allow it to fall into the hands of a devil.”
“Jeb, Zeke is still alive. They all are!” Frustrated, I glared at him, wishing I could pound the truth into his skull by force. “Listen to me! Zeke and I followed Jackal’s men here together. We rescued the others and set a building on fire for a distraction. By now, they’re probably out of the city. You can still get to Eden, if you stop being so damned stubborn and pay attention to what I’m telling you!”
Jeb blinked, his glassy expression cracking just a little. “Ezekiel is…alive?” he murmured, then shook his head almost desperately. “No. No, you lie, demon. Ezekiel was my son, though he was not my blood. He would never consort with the likes of you. I taught him better than that.”
My anger boiled over, and with it, the Hunger that had been building as my wound slowly knit itself closed. “Zeke cared more about his people than you ever did, preacher!” I snarled at Jebbadiah, whose face tightened at the sight of my fangs. “He would do anything to save them, anything! Even get himself killed trying to rescue them. Even team up with a vampire who, I have to point out, is still trying to save your stubborn ass! I might be a demon, but Zeke is far more human than you or me or anyone, and if you can’t see that, then you don’t know him as well as you should.”
Jebbadiah stared at me a moment longer, then slowly shook his head, closing his eyes. “How can I trust it?” he whispered, and he wasn’t speaking to me. “Should I believe what it tells me, that my son is alive, that the others have been spared?” He opened his eyes, his face tormented by indecision. “I am too old to turn from my path,” he said, staring at something I could not see. “I cannot believe a demon has a soul, that it can be saved. This I will not believe. I will be lost if I begin to doubt…” His gaze flicked to mine, still anguished, and he finally spoke directly to me. “Why have you come, vampire? Why do you hesitate? I know you wish to kill me, I can see it in your eyes. What is stopping you?”
I paused a moment to control myself, so my voice would be steady when I answered. “I promised Zeke I would find you. Believe what you want, but that’s the truth.” Carefully, I stepped around the counter, keeping a wary eye on the hand that still held the blade. “I said I would bring you back safe, and I will. If you won’t do this for me, do it for Zeke and Caleb and Bethany. They deserve better than this, don’t you think?” I gestured out the window, then turned back to him, glaring. “But you can’t stop now. You can’t let them down. Get that damned cure to Eden, so they can have some kind of future. Do that for them, at least.”
The color drained from Jeb’s face. The scalpel suddenly dropped from his hand, clattering to the floor.
“You shame me, vampire,” he whispered in a voice almost too soft to hear. “All this time, I was so concerned about getting my people to Eden, I forgot my duty to protect them on the journey. I let Ezekiel handle what I should have from the beginning. And now, look where we are.” He turned from me, gazing out the window. “I killed Dorothy,” he murmured, “and Darren. And all the others. I brought us here. Their deaths are on my head.”
“Not everyone is gone,” I reminded him, struggling to contain the Hunger, which had emerged with a vengeance now that I was healed. I badly wanted to fly at this human and sink my teeth into his throat, but I shoved down the urge and stomped on it. I had been hungry my entire life, on the brink of starvation many times in the Fringe; it would not control me now. “Zeke is waiting for you, along with the rest of them. You can still save lives, Jeb. You can still get to Eden. We just have to go now.”
“Yes.” Jeb nodded, though he still wasn’t looking at me. “Yes, I will make it up to them. Even if I must sell my soul to a demon, I will bring them home.”
A slow clapping came from the doorway, and my stomach dropped to my toes.
“Bravo,” drawled the tall, smirking form of the vampire raider king, leaning in the doorway. “Bravo. What a touching performance. I think I shed a tear.”
Chapter 23