“I don’t want any trouble,” I said calmly, keeping my hands where he could see them. “I was just leaving, in fact. Let me walk out of here, and you’ll never see me again.”
Sergeant Keller hesitated. The other soldiers kept their guns trained on my heart. From the corner of my eye, I saw movement on the waters of the lake; a faded white ferry pulling up to the dock. The boat that would take everyone but me to Eden.
“Sarge,” one of the men growled. “We should kill it. Now, before anyone hears we let a vampire through the gates. If the mayor finds out, there’ll be a citywide panic.”
I met Keller’s eyes, keeping my expression calm, even though I felt my body tense, ready to explode into violence if needed. I didn’t want to hurt these men, but if they started firing, I would have no choice but to tear them apart. And hope they didn’t shoot me full of holes before I could escape.
“You’ll leave?” Keller asked gravely. “You’ll walk away and not come back?”
“You have my word.”
He sighed and lowered his gun. “All right,” he stated, as a few of his men started to protest. “We’ll escort you to the gates.”
“Sarge!”
“Enough, Jenkins!” Keller glared at the man who had spoken. “She hasn’t hurt anyone here, and I’m not about to start a fight with a vampire if there’s no need. Shut up and stand down.”
The soldiers relented, but I felt their glares on my back as they led me across the muddy yard, back to the huge iron gates guarding the entrance. Keller yelled a command, and one of the gates creaked open, just enough for one person to walk through.
“All right, vampire,” Keller said, nodding to the gate. I heard the click of their weapons behind me, a half dozen barrels leveled in my direction. “There’s the door. Get out and don’t come back.”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t look back. I walked to the gates and slipped through, feeling them grind shut behind me, sealing me off from humanity, Eden and Zeke.
We are vampires, Kanin had told me, on one of our last nights together. It makes no difference who we are, where we came from. Princes, Masters and rabids alike, we are monsters, cut off from humanity. They will never trust us. They will never accept us. We hide in their midst and walk among them, but we are forever separate. Damned. Alone. You don’t understand now, but you will. There will come a time when the road before you splits, and you must decide your path. Will you choose to become a demon with a human face, or will you fight your demon until the end of time, knowing you will forever struggle alone?
A silent road stretched before me, damp with rain and littered with cars. As I watched, pale figures began to slip through the trees or claw their way out of the earth. Rabids edged onto the pavement, filling the road, their hisses and snarls rising into the air. Their empty white eyes blazed with madness and Hunger, and they began to sprint forward.
Reaching back, I drew my blade, feeling it rasp free, gleaming as it came into the light. Looking up at the approaching rabids, I smiled.