Page 4 of Crimson Storm

The screaming stopped.

It was the first time I’d seen someone die here. And I’d never seen someone die likethat.

I’d heard about what the new UV weapons could do, of course. They were discussed on the news as either the latest and greatest form of “home protection”—or the harbinger of mass genocide—depending on what network you watched. I’d never dreamed they’d be so effective though.

Seeing Nathaniel, who’d lived through twelve wars and who knewhowmany battles, reduced to a smoldering pile of disconnected limbs sickened me.

It also reminded me of something Reece had said during one of our walks together not long before I’d left the Bastion for California.

They won’t rest until every last one of us is burned from the consciousness of humanity.

At the time I’d believed he was simply cynical. Now I’d begun to wonder if he’d been the smartest of us all.

3

Bullies

“Any of the rest of you bloodsuckers want some?” Gatlin yelled in a shaky voice.

Striding close to the fence again, he pointed his rifle at the small group of vampires who’d ventured near to investigate Nathaniel’s remains—or perhaps test the barrier themselves.

They scattered and retreated, leaving the guard smiling.

“That’s right. The president has assured us there’s plenty more of those UV rounds coming—more than enough to take care ofallof you.” He lifted a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “Get someone out here to test the western barrier.Now.”

Behind me, the sound of whimpers was followed by a soft sob. I turned to see Kelly and Heather huddled together, staring in horror at the place where Nathaniel had stood only moments earlier.

We’d been together when we were arrested in Los Angeles and tried to keep an eye on each other at all times here in the prison camp.

While none of us were having a good time, I worried for Heather most of all. She was growing thinner by the day, and she frequently got the shakes. She had the vampire equivalent of low blood sugar.

Before we’d been incarcerated, she’d managed it by drinking small doses of blood frequently. But here we had no control over when we were fed and how much. It was never enough—for any of us—which frankly was dangerous for our human captors.

I walked over to my friends, whispering for them to follow me to the other side of the enclosure.

“What’s going to happen to us, Abbi?” Kelly asked.

“Did you hear what Gatlin said? He said none of us are getting out of here,” Heather said. There were tears in her eyes, making their lilac shade appear even lighter.

“He was just talking tough,” I assured her, instilling as much confidence in my voice as I could muster. “Of course we’re getting out of here. It’s a temporary holding facility. As Mr. Bradford said, we’re American citizens. The Accord gave us full rights. We won’t antagonize the guards as he did. We’ll follow the rules and keep our heads down, and we’ll be fine until Sadie is able to secure our release. I’m sure she’s working on it as we speak.”

Please God let Sadie be working on it.

In spite of my confident words and tone of voice I was growing more worried with each passing week in confinement.

Nathaniel had been foolish to challenge the armed guard, but he’d been right about one thing—it was wrong that we hadn’t been allowed to speak to an administrator by now or anyone outside the facility.

“How would Sadie even know where we are?” Kelly argued. “They took all our phones.”

A cold slice of fear bisected my empty belly. “I’m sure when we didn’t show up for work, she started looking for us,” I said. “You know how smart she is. She’ll figure out where we are and come for us—all of us. We’re innocent. We won’t be here much longer.”

When I’d first heard about the Safety Centers, I hadn’t worried too much, assuming only those who’d violated the Accord were being sent to them.

I hadn’t seen much of the world before my seventeenth birthday, having grown up in an Amish community far removed from the outside “English” world. I was barely aware of the Crimson Accord until I became a vampire myself.

In my classes at the Bastion, I’d learned that prior to the signing of the Accord things had been ugly, with humans being drained or turned against their will and vampires being hunted and mostly in hiding.

But once our numbers had grown significant enough, Sadie Aldritch, the leader of the Vampire-Human Coalition, had approached John F. Kennedy, the American president at the time, and convinced him a peaceful treaty between vampires and humans was the best thing for everyone.

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