Black Market Blood (The Lazarus Hunter Series Book 2) Read online

  ‘When will we know?’

  ‘If it’s worked?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I hope to see the first signs within a few hours. As Monica explained, this is the very first stage of testing. There is a lot we’re not sure of yet. It could be minutes, it could be days. We may need to administer another dose if we don’t see any signs of improvement. Do you consent for me to do that if you’re unconsciousness? I know this is a difficult thing to talk about.’

  ‘The way I see it doc, this is the only thing standing between me and the afterlife. If there is such a thing. And I’m not of a mind to find out just yet. So sure, do whatever it is you have to do to get me better.’ He stopped to let out a racking cough. A faint mist of blood droplets filled the air. The sweat glistened on his forehead. Monica remembered how it felt. She had no desire to experience that again.

  ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Max closed his eyes as Harlan lifted up his shirt. His skin was waxy, the yellowish colour of death. She hoped they weren’t too late to administer the dose. Not that there had been an alternative.

  Harlan rubbed the alcohol wipe over Max’s stomach and only hesitated for a moment before the needle went in. Monica stepped forwards to put a hand on Max’s shoulder. There was no reason why anyone should feel alone at a time like this. She watched as Harlan depressed the plunger and forced the clear liquid under the skin. He pulled out the needle and gave her a satisfied nod.

  ‘Max, I’m going to give you a few minutes, then I’m going to give you some blood to drink. Try not to move too much, okay?’

  ‘Mmmm.’

  Monica followed Harlan to a side room. His hands shook as he prepared the blood for Max to drink. She knew how it felt to carry the burden of ultimate success or failure on your shoulders. If it was failure then there would be another mountain to climb and even less time in which to do it. If it was a success, then he would have to spend the next few hours manufacturing enough of the vaccine for her to take back at sundown. Then he could go to his woman in town to feed and rest. After all he had done, Monica found herself unable to begrudge him the comfort.

  When they returned to the room, Max was still sweating and shaking. If anything, the shaking seemed worse now, and Monica saw the fear in Harlan’s eyes. He would be responsible for speeding up his death if this failed. The implication it could be even more painful was too horrible to contemplate.

  ‘Max, I need you to drink this now. I’m going to help you sit up.’ Harlan reached forward and pulled Max into a sitting position. He struggled to balance him on one arm and a cup in the other hand.

  ‘Let me help,’ said Monica, taking the cup. It would be easier if they did this together. ‘Come on Max. Drink this.’ She placed the cup to his lips and waited for a response. At first there was none. Then his nostrils flared and his eyes rolled back in his head. He took a tentative sip, his mouth unable to move without a tremor. Blood flowed down his chin as he began to guzzle greedily.

  ‘Hey buddy, take it easy, okay?’ Harlan looked alarmed. ‘You need to keep all of that down. Take it slowly or you’ll be sick.’ He nodded at Monica to pull the cup back a bit. Max thrashed his head towards the cup, senseless as a man lost in the desert who has finally found water.

  When the last of it was gone, Monica put the cup on the tray and helped Harlan lay Max back down to rest. His eyes remained closed. Against the pallid hue of his skin, the blood smeared over his chin looked nightmarish and brutal. ‘What now?’ she mouthed. Harlan shrugged.

  There was nothing else they could do except wait.

  50

  ‘Hi,’ Dennis gave his winning smile as he fell into step with the young vampire. He took the opportunity to take a look at her face. It had to be her. The pink hair had given it away, but he wanted to make sure the rest of the description fit too. He decided to take a chance. ‘I hear you can get your hands on some safe stuff?’

  ‘That depends on what you’re talking about.’

  ‘I need some blood. Something that’s not going to cause me any problems, if you know what I mean?’ He gave her another smile. It was the one he used at the office when Monica needed something and had sent him to do it. His problem solving smile. He was a fixer.

  The woman next to him was a problem he was determined to solve.

  ‘Look, I don’t know who you are,’ she said, putting a little more distance between them. ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘You know what people are like. They talk. Everyone wants to know where to find something that isn’t going to cause them any problems. Just about everyone has got a friend they know is suffering right now. Dying. You can’t blame a guy for taking a chance and asking. Everyone told me there was only one person who could help. You.’

  ‘My help comes at a price.’

  ‘Whatever it is, I’m willing to pay. I’ve got cash. It’s with me now. Or I could get more.’

  ‘You can’t have any tonight. I’m all out.’ She picked up a few paces, but it was the final confirmation he needed.

  It never ceased to amaze Dennis how many people looked the other way. Whenever there was trouble, people became blind. No one even pretended they cared as he reached out and grabbed the woman. He pulled her into the dark of the doorway and his hand shoved under her jaw to pin her head back against the brickwork. She had to be silent but he wasn’t going to cover deadly teeth with his hands. Better to immobilise her instead. ‘You and I need to have a little chat. Let me make things really clear, okay? I’m going to move my hand and you are going to talk. If you make a sound, anything that gets people running to help, I’m going to make it so no one hears you speak again. Ever. Have I made myself clear?’

  He kept his hand in place until he felt the slight push of the woman trying to nod. He could see the fear and panic in her eyes. He didn’t know if it was just him or a bigger threat that had finally found her. There was only one way to find out. He removed his hands and braced himself, ready to do whatever it took to silence her again.

  She didn’t say a word. That was good.

  ‘I need to know what you’re selling that’s so good people can’t resist it.’

  ‘Just blood. All groups.’

  ‘That’s nothing special. Tell me the truth.’

  ‘It’s all from before the disease broke out. Before people started dying.’

  ‘How did you get your hands on it?’ This time there was silence. The nervous dart of her eyes told him she was afraid. Afraid to confess to why she had so much untainted blood in her possession. Was she behind this whole thing? Surely not.

  The truth hit him with a start and he laughed. ‘You stole it, didn’t you?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘God, here we are and people are talking about you like your some holy protector and you’re nothing more than a simple street thief.’

  ‘Fuck you.’

  ‘Don’t push me. Who did you steal it from?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘It matters to me. I asked a question and right now, it’s in your interests to answer it. Where did you get it from?’

  ‘A warehouse. They had so much I didn’t think they’d notice some missing here and there.’

  ‘In the middle of an epidemic? We haven’t seen anything like this since the middle ages when the Black Death wiped us out as much as it did the humans. You think no one is going to be looking at every drop of free blood? You’re not only a petty criminal, but you’re also pretty stupid.’

  ‘They don’t know. They haven’t checked.’

  ‘Maybe not yet, but they will. So who owns all this blood? Tell me.’

  ‘It belongs to the Sekhmet family.’

  ‘What a surprise.’ Dennis already had the confirmation he needed that they were behind all this, but it was useful to have someone else say it again. The more people knew about how they were behind it, the more the other families would gang together and finish them off once and for all before this was through.
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br />   ‘You can’t tell them. They’ll kill me.’

  ‘Why should I care about you?’

  ‘I’ve been trying to help people.’ The woman gave a crooked smile and he saw through the lie at once. She might have been able to charm other people, but it wouldn’t work on him.

  ‘The only person you were trying to help was yourself.’

  ‘What else was I supposed to do?’

  ‘Did you know about this? That this was going to happen? That people were going to die?’ The anger rode through him like a wave, rippling his body and forcing his arms up tight to her throat again. The careless taking of life. People he knew. Friends he had grown up with.

  ‘You’re hurting me. I didn’t know.’

  ‘Why should I believe you?’

  ‘I haven’t been here for long. I was just doing my job, that's all. I didn’t understand how people could need so much blood when there are so many places to hunt and feed in this city.’

  ‘We don’t hunt,’ he said through gritted teeth, smashing her head into the wall. ‘We’re civilised people. We don’t do that here.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that there were people. Easy to find. The warehouse had more blood than any family could need.’

  ‘So you thought you would help yourself to some of it?’

  ‘Yes. I thought people might pay for it. But no one wanted it to begin with. Now they do. The disease has made them need what I can give them.’

  ‘You make yourself sound so selfless, when all you’re doing is taking money off the scared and vulnerable. You should be ashamed of yourself.’

  ‘They weren’t scared and vulnerable when I went to them. It’s not my fault if they are now.’

  ‘No, but it’s your family’s fault, isn’t it? You’re one of them?’ The woman was silent, real fear in her eyes now. ‘Answer me,’ he roared.

  ‘Yes. But I don’t know anything about what is going on. I just work in the warehouse. No one in my family even really talks to me. They don’t like the way I have changed since I came to America. They expected me to be like I was back home. But I came here to be free and I won’t get that from working for them in the warehouse like a slave.’

  ‘You don’t get to come over here and talk about being free. Not when you’re spreading disease and panic.’

  ‘And you don’t get to judge me,’ she screamed back at him. A fleck of spit hit his cheek and Dennis saw red. He shook the woman hard, feeling her nails claw into the back of his hands as she fought to get him off her. He was aware of the sensation, of blood pooling at the surface, but he was too furious to feel pain. It wasn’t until her teeth flew free and she met him more as an equal that he discovered his own blood was running in rivulets down his cheek and onto his lips.

  He hit her hard, once, in the solar plexus and she went down. He loomed over her, pulling at her coat until he found the wad of hundred dollar bills in a pocket. He pulled them out and waved them in front of her. ‘You don’t deserve this.’ He said, standing up and putting it in his pocket. ‘If you know what’s good for you, then you’ll disappear for a while. The only reason I haven’t killed you is because I have more important things to worry about than a turf war right now. But if I see you again, then I’ll finish off what I started. Have I made myself clear?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good.’

  Dennis walked from the cover of the doorway and walked down the street with a steady, even pace. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from his face. There was plenty of it. The sight made him even angrier. He was already being careful with how much he ate. He couldn’t afford to up his requirements in order to help his body heal. Stupid woman.

  He turned the corner and spotted a building with the light still on. Perfect. He walked to the door and pulled it open. The man behind the desk did a double take at the sight of all the blood, but said nothing. They were used to seeing all kinds of things here. Dennis walked up to him and pulled the bills out of his pocket. He placed them on the counter and pushed them over to the man whose eyes went wide.

  ‘Anonymous donation.’ Dennis walked from the homeless shelter and back out onto the street, filled with a nauseating mix of pride and self-loathing.

  51

  Max bolted upright and heaved air into his lungs. Monica leapt to her feet, but Harlan reached him first. She watched as Max panted and tried to focus on the room, like a man waking from a nightmare.

  ‘Max,’ Harlan touched him on the shoulder. ‘Max, it’s me, Harlan. Are you okay? How do you feel?’

  ‘Strange.’ The word was thick on his tongue.

  ‘Can you describe it for me?’

  ‘I don’t know. I think I was asleep. Was I dreaming?’

  ‘You were unconscious for a while.’

  ‘I don’t feel like I used to. I feel different.’

  ‘How?’ Monica stepped forwards, worried. She knew how she felt after she had drunk Elizabeth’s blood. Part of her was jealous someone shared that too.

  ‘Like I looked death in the face and came back from it.’

  ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Isn’t that enough?’ he laughed, surprising himself as he did so. ‘Congratulations Doc. I think it worked.’

  ‘I need to do some checks to be sure,’ Harlan was cautious but a slow smile spread across his face. He checked his watch. It had taken three hours. Nothing short of a miracle.

  Monica waited as he did some tests then followed him back into the main lab. His hands shook with excitement as he typed in the pass code.

  ‘You did it,’ she said unable to stop the laughter bubbling up when they were inside.

  ‘I’m just relieved it worked.’

  ‘Do you have everything you need to make enough for the whole family? Possibly some of the others as well?’

  ‘I think so. I’ve isolated the antibodies and I can reproduce them to make more. I gave Max a low dose and that was enough. It doesn’t take much. By sunset there will be enough to treat those already in the decline. By the end of the week there will be enough for the rest of the family. I can get it shipped over to you.’

  ‘Perfect.’

  ‘It’s better than I dared hope for.’

  ‘So what is left of Elizabeth’s blood?’ she asked.

  ‘Only the control sample,’ he pointed to the last vial on the desk. ‘The others went in the hazardous waste incinerator as I’ve gone along. I’ve only retained the compound. I’ll put the control in to be destroyed now.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Monica?’ His voice was a low warning. ‘I gave my word to both of you. It will be destroyed the next time the incinerator runs.’

  ‘I appreciate that. But I need to make sure it’s taken care of. Give it to me.’

  ‘That wasn’t what we agreed with Elizabeth.’

  ‘We never got into the specifics of how it would be destroyed. I said I’ll take care of it.’

  ‘Monica, I don’t want—’

  ‘You don’t get to say what you want Harlan,’ Monica shot him down with cold authority. She saw the surprise on his face before it hardened. She had never done that with him before and he didn’t like it. Worse, he knew that he couldn’t do anything about it.

  He reached forward and took the vial from the rack. He hesitated a moment more then handed it over to her. For the first time she saw distrust in his eyes. She could understand why, but that didn’t change her mind. She slipped the vial into her pocket as he looked away.

  ‘I’m going to get some sleep now,’ she said. The conversation was over. When I leave, I’ll take Max and the vaccines with me. There’s a long night ahead if we want to help people straight away. I need my sleep for that.’

  She walked to door before turning around. ‘You did the right thing Harlan. It’s just more complicated than you understand.’

  She walked out without looking back for a second time. The game had changed and she was back on the winning t
eam. She would be the leader they needed her to be. The leader she knew that she could be. She would be ruthless.

  Vengeance might be bittersweet, but it was going to be all hers.

  52

  There were more people around than usual at this hour and Jet knew she had missed some instruction to gather. Unlike the Giordanos with their exclusive club in the centre of the city, the Sekhmets made do with a large unremarkable industrial building. The rents were low, that was all she had been told. She didn’t care about the lack of prestige, she just wanted to be alone. Tonight was not a night when her wishes would come true.

  She kept her head down and scurried to the ladies bathroom. The fluorescent lights showed the damage inflicted by the man who had accosted her on the streets and stolen her money. A thud of despair dropped through her. Not at the sight of her bruised skin, but for the loss of the cold hard cash. Tonight’s sale had been for nothing.

  She still had the money from the others, she reminded herself as she wet a paper towel and wiped away the dried smear of blood under her nose. She’d not been expecting a fight. If she had, then she would have given him more than she did. He’d taken her by surprise, that was all. Although she still had no idea why he was so angry. Couldn’t he be more concerned with saving his own skin like everyone else?

  The abrasions on her neck already showed as a livid maroon of new blood. Her right eye and cheek were swollen. Not as bad as her neck, not right now. She might be able to cover them with makeup. Sometimes she didn’t speak to anyone anyway. It might be days before someone got close enough to her to realise that something bad had happened. They might not even bother to ask her what it was and that was fine by her too. There was no way she could explain what it was, no course for revenge, not without hanging herself in the process.

  It wasn’t worth the chance for pride.

  The reflection in the mirror was a sorry state. She’d lost weight since she arrived. Her black jeans now hung low on her hips through fact rather than fashion.

  The man’s words echoed in her ear. Would they notice how many packets were missing from the inventory?