23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale(99)

“It makes sense, I guess,” Clara said. “The half-deads couldn’t use the guns, and the vampires don’t need them. Why leave them lying around? Just in case anybody wandered in here. Say, someone like Guilty Jen.”

Laura shook her head. “No. No! This wasn’t just about hedging bets. Malvern knew I would come here. She’s been leading me around like a bull with a ring in its nose. She let me get this far. Her pal the warden even gave me directions! She wanted me to see this.”

Clara sighed. “Does it matter?”

Laura didn’t answer. Instead she grabbed Clara’s arm and pulled her out of the armory and back to the stairs. Together they headed up to the top level, to the central command center. Gert came trailing after.

Laura kicked open the door and stepped through. There was one half-dead in the room, sitting in a chair watching a bank of monitors. It had its back to them. Before it could turn around Laura ran up behind it and bashed its head forward against the HVAC control board. It didn’t fight back.

“You stay here,” Laura said. “You can watch me on the monitors. You know how to work all this stuff?”

“I can figure it out,” Clara said, “but—”

“If you see me walking into trouble, use the intercom. I’ll be able to hear you just about anywhere. If you find Malvern, let me know where she is.”

“Or,” Clara began.

Laura gave her a cautious look.

“Or,” Clara continued, “you could stay here with me. We can call Fetlock. Let him storm this place and take care of Malvern. That way we’ll both live.” She gave the cautious look right back. “You know perfectly well that without a gun you don’t have a chance against her. You’re going down there to kill yourself.”

“No,” Laura protested. “I’m going down there to kill Malvern or die trying. I thought that was clear.”

“I thought—” Clara said. But she knew she couldn’t change Laura’s mind. “It doesn’t matter what I thought.” I thought you were the same woman I fell in love with, she was thinking. I thought the last couple of years didn’t matter anymore, that this could all be over, that we could try to work things out, to be a couple again. That I wouldn’t have to break up with you.

The look in Laura’s eyes said different. When Clara had first met Laura she was already fighting vampires. She hadn’t stopped since, not even long enough to be a proper girlfriend. To be in love, even for just one day.

“Go,” Clara said. For the same reason she always had. Because it was selfish and stupid to ask someone to stop saving the world just because you thought they were sexy. “Go! You need to do this. It’s who you are. I’ve got your back.”

Laura nodded. It was a serious nod. A businesslike nod. It broke Clara’s heart, but she would never admit it out loud.

The second she left central command, Clara locked the door and pushed a chair up under the knob. That should hold against any half-deads who came up to get a look at the monitors. She had no doubt a vampire could get through the barricade without lifting more than a finger or two, but it was something. She shoved the half-dead out of its chair and started working the boards. She needed to call Fetlock. She needed to figure out how the video board worked.

“You can help me,” she said to Gert, and turned to look for Laura’s cellmate. But the red-haired girl was gone, too. She had taken apart the pathetic barricade and left the room without a word, leaving Clara all alone. She felt absurdly familiar with the situation. Laura was out chasing vampires and Clara was stuck alone watching TV





55.

Laura—I’ve got her. Malvern’s in C Dorm, along with a couple of half-deads. They’re taking donations.” Clara’s voice wasn’t as loud as Caxton had expected it to be. “I’ve figured out how to use individual intercoms without turning on the entire system at once—so they didn’t just hear me say that.”

“That’s a plus,” Caxton said. She stopped for a second and looked up at the camera in the stairwell’s ceiling. “Did you just hear me?”

Clara didn’t respond. So the intercoms didn’t work both ways. She would be able to hear Clara but not talk to her. It was still better than going it alone.

“No sign of the other two vampires,” Clara said. “I don’t think they know we’re free yet, but I’m thinking that someone will go and check on us eventually. I don’t know how much time you’ll have.”