Free City of the Fallen by Diana Bocco

been this close before.”
     
    Marcus slid into the chair facing his bedroom door. Isabelle could’ve run into one of them out there—and so could the other humans trying to reach the compound. While there was enough blood in the compound, the supply was low everywhere else around the country. He couldn’t risk losing humans to the rabids out there. On the other hand, he knew that the less the rabids fed, the faster the void would spread. It was a losing proposition either way.
     
    He turned towards Miles, searching for answers. “How worried are you?”
     
    Miles frowned. “More than I was six months ago.”
     
    Marcus’ heart thumped against his ribs. “What about the guards?”
     
    “They’re on the walls since last night. But if a group of rabids attacks—”
     
    “I know,” he interrupted. “It’ll be a nasty fight.”
     
    “We’ll spread the word throughout the compound tonight. Tell the humans to stay away from the outer walls.”
     
    “How much time do you think we have?”
     
    Miles moved closer. “Can I speak freely, sir?”
     
    Marcus nodded. If there was somebody he could count on telling him the truth, it was Miles. They were as close as brothers. “Of course.”
     
    “If the void keeps spreading, we’ll be outnumbered soon.”
     
    Marcus knew it.
     
    “How’s the research going?”
     
    Miles shook his head slightly. “Nothing new, I’m afraid, but I was thinking… the new woman…”
     
    Marcus’ whole body tensed up.
     
    “There’s something different about her,” Miles continued. “Maybe we can…”
     
    “No.”
     
    He could feel his own eyes darkening as he looked at Miles.
     
    “Nobody is touching her except me,” he said softly, but the words burned their way up his throat.
     
    Miles stood quiet, not a single muscle moving.
     
    “Understood,” he finally said.
     
    “Make sure everybody’s aware of this, Miles,” Marcus said. “If we ever come under attack, her safety comes first. Are we clear?”
     
    Miles’ face was a perfectly-carved piece of stone.
     
    “Yes, sir.”
     
    As he was leaving, Miles turned around to face the king just one last time. “Marcus?”
     
    The king looked up and saw the concern in his friend’s expression.
     
    “I’ll be careful, Miles.”
     
    Miles nodded, then stepped through the secret door and disappeared into the labyrinth of tunnels.
     
    Nothing was going as Marcus had expected. When he had put the team of scientists together—the “great vampire minds,” Miles had called them—he had been hoping for a much faster resolution. He’d even sent a team around the country to collect the best lab equipment they could find—and that hadn’t been an easy task, considering the state of ruin of everything around them.
     
    And still, they had nothing.
     
    Coming up with a blood substitute had proven a lot more difficult than the scientists had expected. They were close—or so they kept saying—but they couldn’t nail the right combination of chemicals and nutrients. Or when they did, they couldn’t figure out how to keep the blood “alive” for more than just a few minutes.
     
    Time was running short—especially now that the rabids were getting closer. When he’d first started the lab, the only thing he had had in mind was making sure everybody could feed even if humans disappeared. At the rate they were being killed during the invasion, it had been a very real possibility that they would become extinct someday. Now he was wondering whether having a blood substitute could stop the void from spreading. And whether the rabids could be turned back if given enough blood. He didn’t know if that had ever been attempted before. After all, it made more sense to just abandon or destroy the vampires who became rabid—or at least it had made sense centuries ago, when science could not have attempted to come up with a cure.
     
    If there was a chance for his plan to work, though, it had to happen soon.