Free Vampire Apocalypse: Fallout (Book 3) by Derek Gunn Page B

Conor.”
    “Ricks,” the boy interrupted
politely, but forcefully, and Harris nodded.
    “No,” the girl sobbed and a
single tear began to roll down her cheek. Ricks walked back to the
steps and crossed to the girl, where he put his arms around her
awkwardly. She leaned against him and Harris noticed that one of
the other boys began to move forward but was held back by a much
larger boy. The rest of the room remained silent as the scene
played out.
    “Hey, Emma,” he said softly and
she looked up at him.
    “You’ve never called me Emma
before,” she said quietly and Harris felt a sudden embarrassment at
listening to such an intimate moment.
    “I’ll be careful.”
    The moment stretched on, and
then the girl suddenly leaned up and kissed him on the lips.
    “You’d better or I’ll kill you
myself,” she smiled bravely and then turned to join her friends.
Ricks returned to the platform. A woman who was probably the girl’s
mother pushed through and put a hand awkwardly on her shoulder and
Harris wondered if it was more an action of restraint rather than
consolation. After that four more men came forward, all of them
current trainees for Harris’s expeditionary force.
    “Geez, if the kid can go, how
can we stay?’ one of the men said simply as he smiled at Harris and
moved to join the others. And that had been it. In all, fourteen of
them had left that night, though those who were left did not feel
quite so righteous as they had expected to feel. The worried
expression that Phelps had worn as he watched the small group
leave, his tongue constantly wetting his lips like a demented
lizard, had almost been worth it. The community too had been split,
with many unsure whether the punishment was truly fitting. Harris
had though he could see a rift forming even as he watched and then
he had turned and walked out with his small band following.
     
     
    Harris had left in a daze that
night. He could admit to himself now that he had had no idea where
he and his small band of exiles could go as they left the city, but
he was certain of one thing: Ian Phelps had just risen to his
number one suspect for the traitor that threatened all their lives.
He had wanted to counter Phelps’s arguments with the revelation
that there was a traitor amongst them but it hadn’t been the time.
For one thing, he would have been asked where his knowledge came
from and, having to admit that a vampire had told him, even if that
vampire had been Steele, would only have made him seem petty. And
that would have only weakened his position further.
    He could not even use the fact
that Von Richelieu had already known of their existence before
Steele had reached him because, quite simply, he would not have
been believed. It would have been seen as a desperate gamble and
one that would only have alerted the traitor that his own existence
was already known. No, he would have to take his defeat in this
battle and prepare for the next round. He must keep his knowledge
of the traitor a secret for now, especially when he still had no
idea what the traitor’s motivation might be or even why Von
Richelieu had allowed them to live all this time.
    Only Sandra, Pat Smyth, Father
Reilly and Warkowski knew anything about the traitor and he planned
on keeping it that way. He would keep an eye on the community and
wait for the bastard to make a mistake, and then he’d pounce. The
community may have turned their back on him but he had no intention
of leaving them to their fate. There was something playing out here
that he didn’t understand as yet. Did Von Richelieu really want to
cull the numbers of vampires in the world and was he prepared to
let millions of humans die in agony to ensure this happened?
    He wasn’t even sure if the
traitor had already given away their actual location or just their
existence. The community should move to be on the safe side but to
do so with the traitor still amongst them was folly. And Von
Richelieu obviously didn’t want