Free The Vault (A Farm Novel) by Emily McKay Page A

would not be like my father.
    “Tell me something,” I asked Ely to distract myself. “Why the hell didn’t you come to me?”
    He looked at me. “Instead of taking her to Roberto?”
    “Yes, God damn it. You had to have known that if I’d realized he had Marcus, I would have done everything in my power to help him.”
    “Everything except hand over Lily,” Ely said flatly.
    “I would have found a way.”
    Ely was shaking his head. “You’ve been there. You’ve seen Roberto’s compound. You know what the security is like. It’s not like breaking into a Farm. At a Farm you can walk right up and they’ll just let you in because they need as much fresh blood as they can get. At El Corazon, they’re keeping track of every warm body on the ranch. Price sent me out to get his daughters for him and the guards had orders to not even let me back in unless I had Mel or Lily with me. I’d seen what we were up against. There’s no way we can defeat that guy. All we can do is try to take care of our own. Stay alive as long as we can, any way we can.”
    “No way we can defeat what guy? Roberto? Because guess what? He’s dead.”
    Ely looked at me blank-faced for a minute, then he tipped back his head and he laughed. “You are so full of crap.” And then he laughed even harder. “And you must be getting damn good at this
abductura
thing, because I almost believe you.”
    “I’m not full of crap. I killed him. I brought Lily to El Corazon for treatment after she was exposed to the Tick virus and—”
    “Lily was exposed?” Ely asked dumbly.
    “Yes.” I had the urge to curse some more. To punch him again. Something. Anything. I didn’t.
    Ely was cursing for me. “Jesus, I’m sorry, man. She wasn’t supposed to be hurt. That was never the plan.”
    “Plans never go as expected. You know that.”
    “So what now?” Ely asked. “You going to throw me back in the copier room so I can wait around for someone else to lose their shit?”
    “No.” I felt calmer, more centered. And the plan I was cobbling together was clearer in my mind. Maybe it was all about focus and planning. Maybe as long as I didn’t lose it, no one else would. It was just a theory, but I didn’t have time to test it out slowly. I had to dive in, headfirst, on this. I pushed myself to my feet. I held out a hand to help Ely up. “I really do need you to save Lily.”
    I told him about the helicopter going down.
    He stood, wincing as his ribs shifted. He’d probably cracked a couple of them. He slanted me a look. “Last time you trusted Lily to me, I tried to turn her over to the vampires and I nearly got her killed. Why the hell would you trust me again?”
    “Because you’re the best person for the job. And because it’s probably going to save your life. And because your brother was on that helicopter, too.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    LILY
    I don’t let myself dwell on what I’ve just learned about my father. I have more pressing concerns.
    I need to kill myself. I’m not even sure if that will work. Maybe I’m already too much of a Tick. But I have to try.
    The only other option is to wait it out, suffer through the effects of the virus, and wait for the transformation to happen. And then I’ll be one of them. A soulless monster. A killing machine.
    I can’t let that happen. I’ve seen what they can do. Up close and personal. I’ve seen their dumb eyes and thoughtless glazed stare. I’ve seen the ruthless thirst. I’ve felt the hot breath of a Tick on my neck. I’ve watched as a Tick cracked open my sister’s rib cage to get at her heart. I know what they’re capable of. That’s not going to be me.
    But out here, in God only knows where, I don’t have a lot of options. My father is drifting in and out of consciousness. No help there. I don’t even know how much time he has left. He’s lost so much blood. He can’t survive long with those wounds. That much blood seeping out of him. Blood.
    I shake to make myself look away