Page 12 of Crimson Storm

He grabbed Kelly’s upper arm and began steering her toward an open doorway. The top of a stairwell was visible just beyond it.

“No. You can’t force us to stay down there,” I said and started toward them to try to help my friends.

The time of day and my extreme lack of nutrition had weakened me severely. I had only a fraction of my normal speed and strength.

Terry caught me from behind and jabbed a needle into my neck.

Margaret ran to the home’s front door and unlocked it. Before throwing it open, she turned back to look at me. There were tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be a prisoner again.”

Then she opened the door and stepped out into the morning light.

“Dammit!” Glenn shouted. “Now we’re down to three. Shane, why didn’t you stop her?”

The younger guy looked like he was in shock. He stared out the open front door at the pile of ash in the front yard.

“Well, at least shut the damn door. The last thing we need is the busy-body neighbors reporting us,” his uncle said.

All the remaining energy deserted my limbs, and my knees buckled. Just before losing consciousness, I heard Shane’s voice, loud and anxious.

“Uncle Terry, Glenn—what are you doing? You said they wouldn’t be hurt.”

And then there was silence and cool blackness.

7

Hunger Strike

Iwoke in a stupor of confusion and pain.

My head was swimming, and my back was sore. When I sat up, I looked around and understood the reason for the back part—we were all lying on a bare concrete floor. The head part I assumed was an effect of the liquid platinum injection.

The substance was sometimes used at the Safety Center to bring unruly inmates under control. Glenn must have pocketed some while at work.

The development of pharmaceutical platinum by a U.S. lab had been the final straw for Imogen.

Saying it was the first step toward trying to remove our rights and eventually eradicate us, she’d left mainstream society and begun living underground full-time, leading her own faction of vampires and preparing them for the resistance movement she believed was inevitable.

Her sister Sadie had countered that it was reasonable for humans, who were at such a physical disadvantage, to want some form of protection against vampires.

Other than the recently developed solar weapons, platinum was their only means of defense against vampires who weren’t interested in peace between the races.

Before now, I had honestly believed it would only be used against vampire criminals.

But it turned out Imogen was right once again. Suddenly I was struck by a fierce longing for home, for the safety of the Bastion.

If I’d never left, my friends and I would never have been imprisoned. I wouldn’t be here now, wondering what these humans would do to us, wondering if this was how I’d meet my final end... and wishing I had one more chance to see Reece and say goodbye.

Beside me, Kelly stirred. “Where are we?”

Her words sounded slurred. Obviously she’d been dosed with platinum as well.

“The basement of Terry’s house. We were drugged. They weren’t rescuing us—they were kidnapping us.”

The good news was there were no windows to admit sunlight. The bad news was there were no windows—or doors—that we could use to make our escape.

It looked as if there might have been a door to an exterior bulkhead at one point, but it had been filled in with cement blocks and mortar. In our weakened states, there was no way we’d be able to break through it.

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