get somewhere safe.
"Look. At. Me," Cooper commanded.
My gaze flew to his and I held on to the strength and love still clear in his strange hazel-green eyes. He was still Cooper. He was still here for me. I wasn't twelve anymore. I wasn't abandoned in a city full of monsters that wanted my blood. I didn't need to be afraid. Slowly, my panic faded. I drew in a long, slow breath.
"Better?" Cooper asked, and I nodded, comforted by the quick smile he gave me.
"You're some kind of a prince or something," Danny said to Cooper, though he still watched me through our adjoining bars. "Can't you make a decree or boss someone around to get us out of here?"
"Us?" Cooper quirked a brow before turning his back on the vampire and crossing to his cot.
"We're here because there's a plague of some kind," Miller said from his cell. "Or so they believe."
"And you don't?" I asked, glad to find something concrete to focus on instead of the fear simmering below the surface of my thoughts.
"The pattern of infection is unusual. Not like anything I've ever heard of," the practitioner replied.
I looked at Danny. "What do you know about this?" I demanded.
The jerk who'd tried to kill me twice grinned. "What he said."
"It's not contagious until an infected person dies," Knox commented from the other side of me. "Anyone near the dying person is at risk."
"And only one will get sick," Danny added as he sauntered back to his cot and sat down. "Or so I've heard."
"That doesn't make any sense." Cooper paced the length of his cell. "Viruses usually infect multiple people at the same time."
I tried to remember everything that had happened in the moments that Travis died, hunting for patterns. In the front cell of the other row, Sharon slumped back against the stone wall. "I was the closest," she said, her flat tone heavy with sorrow.
"No, I was," Knox said.
"You were in wolf form." She slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Burying her face in her hands, she rocked back and forth.
"Does that make a difference?" I asked Knox.
"Sometimes."
"Making it meaningless evidence." Cooper stopped at the front of his cell. "This disease, when did it start?"
"Early September." Knox leaned against the stone wall on the far side of his cell and sank to the floor like Sharon had done. Resting his arms on his knees, he stared at the ceiling. "Some of the Blood Clan hunters were tracking a deer near the haunted ruins that day. We think it started there."
"Had Travis hunted there recently?" Cooper asked.
"Two days ago," Sharon said. "With Knox."
"Winter's coming and the deer are plentiful there," Knox said. "The ban on that area won't fill people's stomachs."
I looked at him through the bars. He seemed healthy enough. "Why didn't you get it?"
"For the same reason not all humans get the flu," Danny said as he pressed his hands along the thin mattress of his cot. Seemingly satisfied with the results, he lay down and clasped his hands behind his head as if he didn't have a care in the world.
We all looked up at the sound of keys in the locks of the cellblock door. The thick door swung open and a moment later tattooed Bald Guy from the gate came in with two burlap bags slung over his shoulders. He put one bag on the scarred wooden table at the other end of the room and then stomped up the row across from us and down ours, shoving packets of food from the bag through the bars. When he got back to the table, he repeated the routine with the other bag, doling out two bottles of water for each prisoner.
"Nothing thicker and redder in there, darling?" Danny asked as his two bottles of water rolled across the floor toward him. Bald Guy gathered up his empty bags and left without even glancing at him. Friendly and smart. Bet he was a blast at parties.
I gathered up my food and water and brought them back to the cot. Popping off the plastic top of the square container, I found dried meat, bread, and a wedge of hard cheese. Medieval, but it
"Look. At. Me," Cooper commanded.
My gaze flew to his and I held on to the strength and love still clear in his strange hazel-green eyes. He was still Cooper. He was still here for me. I wasn't twelve anymore. I wasn't abandoned in a city full of monsters that wanted my blood. I didn't need to be afraid. Slowly, my panic faded. I drew in a long, slow breath.
"Better?" Cooper asked, and I nodded, comforted by the quick smile he gave me.
"You're some kind of a prince or something," Danny said to Cooper, though he still watched me through our adjoining bars. "Can't you make a decree or boss someone around to get us out of here?"
"Us?" Cooper quirked a brow before turning his back on the vampire and crossing to his cot.
"We're here because there's a plague of some kind," Miller said from his cell. "Or so they believe."
"And you don't?" I asked, glad to find something concrete to focus on instead of the fear simmering below the surface of my thoughts.
"The pattern of infection is unusual. Not like anything I've ever heard of," the practitioner replied.
I looked at Danny. "What do you know about this?" I demanded.
The jerk who'd tried to kill me twice grinned. "What he said."
"It's not contagious until an infected person dies," Knox commented from the other side of me. "Anyone near the dying person is at risk."
"And only one will get sick," Danny added as he sauntered back to his cot and sat down. "Or so I've heard."
"That doesn't make any sense." Cooper paced the length of his cell. "Viruses usually infect multiple people at the same time."
I tried to remember everything that had happened in the moments that Travis died, hunting for patterns. In the front cell of the other row, Sharon slumped back against the stone wall. "I was the closest," she said, her flat tone heavy with sorrow.
"No, I was," Knox said.
"You were in wolf form." She slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Burying her face in her hands, she rocked back and forth.
"Does that make a difference?" I asked Knox.
"Sometimes."
"Making it meaningless evidence." Cooper stopped at the front of his cell. "This disease, when did it start?"
"Early September." Knox leaned against the stone wall on the far side of his cell and sank to the floor like Sharon had done. Resting his arms on his knees, he stared at the ceiling. "Some of the Blood Clan hunters were tracking a deer near the haunted ruins that day. We think it started there."
"Had Travis hunted there recently?" Cooper asked.
"Two days ago," Sharon said. "With Knox."
"Winter's coming and the deer are plentiful there," Knox said. "The ban on that area won't fill people's stomachs."
I looked at him through the bars. He seemed healthy enough. "Why didn't you get it?"
"For the same reason not all humans get the flu," Danny said as he pressed his hands along the thin mattress of his cot. Seemingly satisfied with the results, he lay down and clasped his hands behind his head as if he didn't have a care in the world.
We all looked up at the sound of keys in the locks of the cellblock door. The thick door swung open and a moment later tattooed Bald Guy from the gate came in with two burlap bags slung over his shoulders. He put one bag on the scarred wooden table at the other end of the room and then stomped up the row across from us and down ours, shoving packets of food from the bag through the bars. When he got back to the table, he repeated the routine with the other bag, doling out two bottles of water for each prisoner.
"Nothing thicker and redder in there, darling?" Danny asked as his two bottles of water rolled across the floor toward him. Bald Guy gathered up his empty bags and left without even glancing at him. Friendly and smart. Bet he was a blast at parties.
I gathered up my food and water and brought them back to the cot. Popping off the plastic top of the square container, I found dried meat, bread, and a wedge of hard cheese. Medieval, but it
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