Free The Bloody City by Megan Morgan Page A

of her was completely tangled up in this mess, and it wasn’t that easy to cut her way out. She couldn’t just take off and leave everything, everyone behind.
    Could she?
    * * * *
    Cindy and Muse returned in their allotted timeframe, so Sam didn’t have to go on a reconnaissance mission, thankfully.
    Cindy had a wooden box, about the size of a milk carton. She set it carefully on the kitchen table as they all gathered around. Sam had summoned the household to a meeting.
    “It wasn’t hard to get in,” Muse told Sam. “No one is patrolling.”
    “Things are falling apart without me.” Sam sighed. “They’re not being vigilant. My wandering sheep, lost without their shepherd.”
    June rolled her eyes. “Maybe they don’t listen so good since you call them ‘sheep.’”
    “What were you breaking into?” Micha asked.
    “A building where we keep special things, a storehouse,” Muse said. “We weren’t really breaking in. I have a key.” She turned to Sam. “And to be fair, only you and I know the extent of what’s in there. You’ve never over-stressed the need for security.”
    “I don’t know what this is.” Cindy eyed the box. “Nothing alive, I hope?”
    Sam pulled it toward him. “It’s something dangerous. But not to us.”
    Sam popped a latch on the box and carefully opened the lid. The way he behaved, June expected a dazzling light to issue forth and the answer to all their problems to spring out. Instead, he took out a narrow tube. June flinched. The tube reminded her of the Oracle of the Dead, a seemingly innocuous tube of blood that, once magically activated, could literally wake the dead. This tube wasn’t a vial, though, more like a fluorescent light bulb, with metal fittings on each end. The tube was the length of Sam’s hand, fingertips to wrist.
    Sam held the tube out to Micha. “Recognize this?”
    Micha narrowed his eyes.
    “No? It really was top secret, then.”
    “What is it?” Micha asked.
    “Something your dearly departed wife was working on.” He held it up by one end. “This was the prototype, anyway. My spies at the Institute stole it.”
    “What does it do?” June asked.
    “It was the beginning of the cure,” Sam said.
    “The cure?”
    “The cure to vampirism.” Sam lowered the tube. “Of course, this version does more harm than good, but we can certainly use that to our advantage. It emits UV light.”
    June tilted her head, brow furrowing. “Fake sunlight?”
    “Yes,” Sam said. “That’s not the point of it, though. Obviously, since they want to help vampires, not kill them, altruistic scientists that they are. UV light is also used for germicidal irradiation. It kills bacteria.”
    Micha gasped. “Like what the vampires have inside them.”
    “Yes.” Sam nodded. “Only problem is, this early model is dangerous. They hadn’t yet perfected how to kill the germs without burning through vampire flesh as well. With Mrs. Bellevue in the dirt, I’m sure the project got tanked. Sad.”
    “So…” June said. “You want Micha to take that with him when you meet Occam?”
    “Now she gets it.” Sam snapped his fingers.
    “You think that’ll keep them off me?” Micha asked.
    “You’ll have to be careful.” Sam placed the tube back in the box. “UV light can harm humans, as well. Too much exposure will burn your skin and fry your corneas. You’ll have to be careful whom you flash it at. But it’ll work much faster on them than it will you.”
    Sam closed the box. June squeezed Micha’s hand. His fingers were cold.
    “Told you I’d figure something out.” Sam looked at June.
    “Are you coming with us?” June asked Muse. “For extra protection?”
    “I can’t read vampires’ minds,” she said. “But I’ll be close. With my knives.”
    “I like your knives,” June said.
    After they dispersed from the kitchen, Diego pulled June aside in the living room.
    “Sam said he wants me to take you and Jason home.” He gripped June’s upper