A Kiss of Blood (Vamp City #2)(33)

Quinn peered at him. “Why? Were you expecting me to show up in flowing black robes with a wand in my hand?” She meant for the comment to be light, and failed. She’d never been comfortable with what she was, and she didn’t like that everyone here knew.

“I meant no disrespect, Quinn,” Neo said softly, the smile dying from his eyes.

Quinn sighed. “I know. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. I just . . . I don’t think of myself as a sorceress.”

He nodded, understanding in his eyes. “It’s hard to change your self-image overnight. Been there, done that.”

She peered at him. “Is that what happened to you when you became a vampire?”

“It is. As I told you, I was a slave here for years. I hated the vampires.”

“Yet you became one.”

“Not by will, I assure you. The one who turned me did so just to infuriate me . . . or kill me. Most who are turned don’t survive. But I did. And the first thing I did was kill him for it.”

“Have you killed . . . others? Humans?”

“No, though it was a near thing a couple of times.”

“You have more self-control than most.”

“Either that, or I simply have more passion for my self-professed calling.”

“Saving people.”

“Giving them the freedom to return to their world, to the sunshine, as I so desperately fought . . . and failed . . . to do myself. It feels like a losing proposition, sometimes. For every human I free, other vamps and Traders bring in two more. But I feel like I thwart the grand scheme with every person I get out of here. And I never tire of watching the joy and tears in the eyes of those I help send home.”

Quinn nodded. “I get that. I freed half a dozen slaves through a sunbeam a few weeks ago.” She thought of Marcus and the others she’d handed out of Vamp City that day. Soon after escaping with Zack, she’d looked up Marcus and spoken with his wife on the phone, who’d burst into tears of gratitude when she’d told her who she was. Marcus had wanted her to come meet his wife and daughter, and she’d promised to. Sometime. Now she wondered if she ever would. His wife had told her they’d all made it out safely. Celeste, who’d been a newly turned Slava, had had a heart attack as she’d traveled through, but Marcus was trained in CPR and had been able to get her heart beating again. She was fine. Her hair had even turned back to normal.

Apparently, Slavas reverted to their true age upon leaving VC. That sudden aging, even if they weren’t too old to live, tended to kill them. Celeste had only been immortal for a year, and, still, without Marcus’s intervention, she’d have died.

Neo watched her with interest. “You clearly have power, to be able to free slaves through a sunbeam, Quinn.”

Her mouth twisted. “Someday I’m going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

“It will happen,” he said kindly. “You’ve not yet come to terms with it. You’ve not yet embraced it.”

“I’ve spent too many years hating it. Have you come to terms with being a vampire?”

“I have.”

She looked at him with surprise and was met with a quick grin. “I’ve learned to appreciate the benefits of incredible strength and speed, of never suffering pain or injury for more than minutes at a time. And to appreciate the fact that I never age. Immortality is a gift, Quinn. One I never asked for, but one I have come to enjoy. Once you learn to control it, your power will be a gift to you.”

He was an interesting man, Neo. She felt comfortable with him. “Don’t you miss the sun?”

“I do, though I’ve found ways around it. Until the magic began to fail and I became trapped, I used to frequent the movie theater in Georgetown on a regular basis. In the dark safety of that theater, with the films rolling, I could immerse myself in your world and pretend I lived once more in the sun. It might have been a false, Hollywood sun, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I miss it.”

She followed him into a large storage room at the end of one of the tunnels. A deserted room far from anyone else. Neo seemed nice enough, but he was still a vampire. And she suddenly wondered if anyone would hear if she shouted for help.

“You’re in no danger, Quinn,” Neo chided softly. “I wish only to show you something that you’ll find interesting.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Perhaps not. But your tension has risen.”

“You can feel it.”

“A little. I’m very sensitive in that way, able to feed off of almost any wariness. That’s why I have so little need to cause true fear. Everyone who comes here is at least wary. Most are thoroughly terrified.” He looked at her evenly. “If you’d rather wait for Arturo or Micah, I’m fine with that. But there’s something I need you to hear. I believe there’s a permanent break in the worlds down here.”

She met his gaze and saw no subterfuge. And at the high peel of childish laughter deep within the storeroom, her eyes widened and she motioned Neo to lead the way through the stacks and stacks of boxes that appeared to fill the room. As they walked, the music carried to them, followed by voices.

But when they turned the final corner, there was no one there.

Neo smiled with bemusement and drew his finger to his lips.

As she listened, she realized the music was a children’s tune on television. Overlaying it were the voices of children. And a woman.