Night Betrayed Read Online Free PDF Page B

tendons. The only way to destroy them was to smash their brain; though they were afraid of fire and light, they were impervious to it, to falling, or to bullets or even knives. Bottle bombs had become the defense weapon of choice for humans, knowing that the explosion would destroy many at one time.
    The darkness wasn’t spinning any longer, and Theo pulled carefully to his feet. Still holding the edge of the table, his fingers brushing the wilted sage leaves, he paused to get his bearings.
    Moved by curiosity as well as the mundane desire to relieve himself, Theo eased toward the entrance to his corner of the hospice. The fact that he remained upright emboldened him further, and he walked with more confidence beyond the dividing wall.
    There he found that he was in a sort of corridor that was made up of more sheets. Dark spaces between the colorless fabric walls indicated other “rooms” or spaces for patients, and Theo paused to determine which way might take him to a lavatory. Or at least something more interesting than billowing blankets hung from a high ceiling.
    A noise in the distance caught his attention. It wasn’t the muffled voice he’d heard earlier, nor did it sound like someone soothing another in pain.
    It sounded like . . . urgency. That was the only thing he could think of to describe the dull noise, quick and short, followed by the low snap of a voice. And another in sharp response.
    Despite his weakened state, Theo moved quite rapidly down the hall toward the sounds. A thump and bump reached his ears as he walked through an entrance—an actual entrance in the building not one constructed of blankets or sheets—and found himself in another room. Beyond it, he saw the gleam of metal counters; and farther on, a sink. A kitchen. So he was in a dining room, perhaps, and there ahead was a kitchen.
    A huge one, he saw when he got closer, with a large island in the center and gleaming countertops stretching for miles. The voices, low and staccato with need, came from a dark corner somewhere in there. He paused when he heard one of them say, “Shush. You’ll wake—”
    “I don’t care,” replied another low one, this with anger spiking it. “You’ve got to stop doing this. My saints. Look at you.” The volume rose, sharp with fear, and Theo recognized Vonnie’s voice. No longer sounding enthusiastic or sunny.
    “I didn’t finish. I’ve got to—”
    “No. You’re not.”
    He peered around the corner and saw two figures struggling in the corner. Not with each other; that was immediately clear in the dim light from over the kitchen sink. No. The larger, cushier one had her arm around the slighter one and was moving awkwardly toward the island counter. The fall of sleek dark hair identified Selena as the one staggering in a steadying embrace.
    Something gleamed on the front of her clothing. Something dark and shiny. Wet.
    “What happened?” Theo said. He couldn’t call what he did bursting into the room, but he moved pretty quickly considering that he’d been dead three days ago.
    Both faces lifted to look at him, a pale circle and a shadowed oval marred by dark streaks. Shock widened two sets of eyes. A slash of light bounced over unbound hair and a face tight with pain.
    “What are you doing out of bed?” Vonnie said, looking as if she’d been caught with her hand in some cookie jar. “Go back now.”
    Theo suspected that Selena would have looked furious if she hadn’t been moving so slowly due to the blood that shone and glistened on her shirt and face. She opened her mouth to say something, but whatever it was turned into a gasp as her companion clumsily bumped her into the edge of the counter.
    Theo was there in a heartbeat, shoving Vonnie out of the way and sliding Selena’s arm around his shoulder. Despite her agitated attempts at protest—which included a feeble shove at him and a muttered, “Go back to bed”—he easily got her to a chair in the corner of the kitchen. It was