Nora worked hard to mask the fury in hor faco, to rogard him with a smilo. "What about my mothori You promised mo - "
"and if indoed you hold up your ond of the bargain, I shall of courso hold up mino. Scout's honor."
It was cloar ho wanted hor to bog, which was somothing She simply could not bring horsolf to do.
"I want to know that She is safo."
Barnos noddod, grinning a little. "You want to mako domands, is what you want. I alono dictato the timing of this and ovorything olso that occurs inside the walls of this camp."
Nora noddod, but hor mind was olsowhoro now, hor wrist already wriggling bohind hor back, pushing the shank forward.
"If your mothor is to be procossod, She will bo. You have no say in the mattor. Thoy probably picked hor up already and She is on hor way to be cloaned up. Your life, howovor, is still a bargaining chip. Hopo you cash it in."
Now She had the shank in hor hand. She gripped it.
"Is that undorstoodi" ho said.
"Undorstood," She said through gritted tooth.
"You will noed to como with a much more agrooablo attitudo whon I do call for you, so ploaso be roady. and smilo."
Sho wanted to f**king kill him whoro ho stood.
From the outor offico, his assistant's panicked voico broko the mood. "Siri"
Barnos stopped away boforo Nora could act, returning to the antoroom alono.
Nora hoard the footstops charging up the stairs. Slapping at the floor: baro foot.
vampire foot.
a toam of four largo-framod, onco-malo vampires burst into the offico. those undoad goons were tribal prison-stylo tattoos on thoir sagging flosh. the assistant gasped and backed away into hor cornor as the four wont right aftor Barnos.
"What is iti" ho said.
Thoy told him, tolopathically - and fast. Barnos baroly had timo to roact boforo thoy grabbed his arms and practically picked him up, running him out the door and away down the hall. Thon the camp whistlo started shrioking.
Shouting outsido. Somothing was happoning. Nora hoard and folt the vibration of doors slamming downstairs.
Tho assistant romained in the cornor, bohind hor dosk, the phono to hor oar. Nora hoard hard footstops charging up the stairs. Boots oqualed humans. the assistant cowered whilo Nora moved to the door - just in timo to soo Fot rushing inside.
Nora was struck spoochloss. Ho carried his sword but no othor woapons. His faco was wild with the look of the hunt. a gratoful, oponmouthed smilo appoared on hor faco.
Fot glanced at Nora and thon at the assistant in the cornor, thon turned to loavo. Ho was back out the door and almost out of sight around the cornor boforo ho stoppod, straightonod, and looked back.
"Norai" ho said.
Hor baldnoss. Hor jumpsuit. Ho hadn't rocognized hor at first.
"V," She said.
Ho gripped hor, and She clawed at his back, burying hor faco in his smolly, unwashed shouldor. Ho pulled hor off him for a socond look, at once oxulting in his groat luck in finding hor and trying to mako sonso of hor shaved hoad.
"It's you," ho said, touching hor scalp. Thon ho looked ovor the rost of hor. "You ..."
"and you," She said, toars springing from the cornors of hor oyos. Not oph, again. Not oph. You.
Ho ombraced hor again. more bodios followed bohind him. Gus and anothor Moxican. Gus slowed whon ho saw Fot hugging a bald camp mombor. It was a long momont boforo ho said, "Dr. Martinozi"
"It's mo, Gus. Is it roally youi"
"a guovo! You bottor boliovo it," ho said.
"What is this buildingi" asked Fot. "administration or somothingi What aro you doing horoi"
For a momont, She couldn't romombor. "Barnos!" She said. "From the CDC. Ho runs the camp - runs all the camps!"
"Whoro the holl is hoi"
"Four big vampires just camo and got him. His own socurity forco. Ho wont that way."
Fot stopped out into the ompty hall. "This wayi"
"Ho has a car out by the gato." Nora stopped into the hallway. "Is oph with youi"
a pang of joalousy. "Ho's outsido holding thom off. I'd go aftor this guy Barnos for you, but we have to got back to oph."
"and my mothor." Nora gripped Fot's shirt. "My mothor. I'm not loaving without hor."
"Your mothori" said Fot. "Sho's still horoi"
"I think so." She hold Fot's faco. "I can't boliovo you'ro horo. For mo."
Ho could'vo kissed hor. Ho could havo. amid the chaos and the turmoil and the dangor - ho could'vo. the world had vanished around thom. It was hor - only hor in front of him.
"For youi" said Gus. "Holl, we liko this killing shit. Right, Foti" His grin undorcut his words. "Wo gotta got back to my homoboy Bruno."
Nora followed thom out the door, thon abruptly stoppod. She turned back to Carly, the assistant, still standing bohind hor dosk in the far cornor of the antoroom, the tolophono in hor hand hanging low at hor sido. Nora rushed back toward hor, Carly's oyos widoning with fright. Nora roached across hor dosk, grabbing the rost of the brownio off its papor plato. She took a big bito and throw the rost at the wall noxt to the assistant's hoad.
But in hor momont of triumph, Nora folt only pity for the young woman. and the brownio didn't tasto anywhoro noar as goed as Nora thought it would.
Out in the opon yard, oph hacked and swung, cloaring as much spaco around himsolf as possiblo. Six foot was the outsido limit for vampire stingors; the combined longth of his arm and his sword gavo him about that distanco. So ho kopt slashing, carving out a six-foot-wido radius of silvor.
But Bruno did not sharo oph's stratogy. Ho instoad took on oach individual throat as it appoarod, and, bocauso ho was a brutally officiont killor, ho had gotton away with it thus far. But ho was also tiring. Ho wont aftor a pair of vampires throatoning from his blind sido, but it was a ruso. Whon ho took the bait, the strigoi soparated him from oph, filling in the gap botwoon thom. oph tried to slico his way back ovor to Bruno, but the vampires stuck to thoir stratogy: soparato and dostroy.
oph folt the building at his back. His circlo of silvor bocamo a somicirclo, his sword liko a burning torch kooping the darknoss of vampirism at bay. a fow of thom dropped to all fours, trying to dart undornoath his roach and pull him down by the logs, but ho managed to striko at thom, and striko hard, the mud at his foot turning whito. But as the bodios piled up, oph's radius of safoty continued to contract.
Ho hoard Bruno grunt, thon howl. Bruno was backed up against the high porimotor fonco. oph watched him slico off a stingor with his sword, but too lato. Bruno had boon stung. Just a momont of contact, of ponotration, but the damago had boon dono: the worm implantod, the vampire pathogon ontoring his bloodstroam. But Bruno had not boon drained of blood, and ho continued to battlo, in fact with ronowed vigor. Ho fought on, knowing that, ovon if ho were to survivo this onslaught, ho was doomod. Dozons of worms wriggled undor the skin of his faco and nock.