“Didn’t bite, though,” said Aidan, getting into the backseat of the car.
“Midnight.” Winter touched his sister’s arm. His voice carried in the parking lot. “We don’t have to go with them.”
She looked at him coldly. “No more birthdays.”
Tana turned the ignition, listening to the comforting growl of the motor and inhaling the faintly burnt-plastic scent of the heater. The clock on the dashboard read a little after two in the morning. Gavriel took shotgun; Winter and Midnight joined Aidan in the back. Winter made sure he got in before his sister, positioning himself in the middle like some kind of chaperone—as if, when the infection kicked back into high gear, Aidan was going to care whom he attacked. Not to mention that Aidan liked boys just fine anyway.
It was easy to get to Coldtown, even without looking at a map. All Tana had to do was follow the path of warning signs. RESTRICTED ACCESS 15 MILES, the first one said, sending her turning onto an empty four-lane road riddled with potholes. They passed abandoned industrial parks, large dirt lots with the burnt-out remains of cars, scrub bushes, and shadow.
The original barricades had annexed about a third of a small city, but by the time the towering gates were built, more like half the city was considered under quarantine. The walls of the Coldtowns went up with lots of regular people trapped inside. The rest moved as far away as they could as quickly as they could. Every house they passed was dark inside.
They drove for a couple of miles until Gavriel said, “You’re going to have to restrain me.”
She looked at him in alarm, her hands jerking the wheel. The car swerved in its lane.
The vampire grinned lopsidedly, showing one sharp tooth. “There’s a checkpoint coming in maybe a mile. If I’m to be your captive, I must look the part. Otherwise, I’m bound to make them nervous.”
“A checkpoint?” Aidan said, leaning forward in his seat. “Like, cops?”
“Homeland Security,” said Winter. “And sometimes the National Guard. He’s right. People posted about them on the boards. They’re just going to ask us what we’re doing here. Probably try and tell us we’re not allowed through. But they can’t keep us out; they just bluster.”
Midnight looked up from her phone. “Gate guards think anyone who wants to live inside is scum.” Her tone was acid.
“They’re not going to think that since we’ve got him with us. They’re going to think we’re badass bounty hunters,” said Aidan.
Tana pulled onto the dirt shoulder of the highway with a sigh. In the distance, behind a stretch of trees and down a slight hill, she could see a McDonald’s with all the windows smashed in and graffiti covering the booths inside.
“How did you know about the checkpoint?” Midnight asked Gavriel softly, leaning forward in her seat so that she was asking the question over his shoulder.
“Research,” he told her, then he turned to Tana. “Once we’re there, you must go home. Death has passed you by twice, Tana. Don’t court him a third time.”
“No, she’s got to come with us,” Aidan said, leaning into the gap between seats. “You are coming, aren’t you, Tana? You won’t let me go on this adventure alone, will you?”
“There is nothing for her beyond those gates,” Gavriel said. “Do you think to bring her along like a talisman to remind you of your humanity? Or do you think sharing your damnation will lighten the burden of it?”
“You seem to like her,” Midnight said archly. “Maybe she’ll lighten your burden instead of his.”
Gavriel gave her a look as though he might reach into the backseat and snap her neck. Then he threw back his head and laughed an eerie, wild laugh. “Clever girl. You play with fire because you want to be burnt.”
“Midnight,” Winter said through clenched teeth.
Tana got out of the car, slamming the door behind her. The trunk was already half open, Gavriel having bent it when he kicked his way free at the gas station; it didn’t close right anymore. She fished for the chain beneath Winter and Midnight’s garbage bags, willing her breathing to even out.
Gavriel caught her arm, his fingers cool against her skin.
She gasped in surprise, pulling away and taking a staggering step back. She hadn’t even heard him get out of the car.