Xavier moved in a shadow of that impossible blurring speed past Stirling, to stand beside the still unconscious Ms. Harrison. Larry shook his head. "Did he just appear there, or did I see him move?"
"He moved," I said.
I expected Janos to send Kissa out to join the others, but he didn't. A figure crawled over the lip of the hill, dragging itself into sight like it hurt to move. Pale hands dug into the naked dirt, pale arms bare to the spring night. The head drooped towards the ground, short dark hair hiding the face. With one upward motion, the face raised into the moonlight. Thin, bloodless lips drew back from fangs. The face was ravaged with hunger. I knew the eyes were brown only because I'd seen them staring lifelessly at the ceiling of Ellie Quinlan's bedroom. There was no pull to her eyes, but down in the dark depths a flicker of something burned. It wasn't sanity; hunger, maybe. An animal's emotion, nothing human. Maybe after they'd let her feed for the first time, she'd have time for emotions; now everything had narrowed down to one basic need.
"Is that who I think it is?" Larry asked.
"Yeah," I said.
Jeff tried to run to her. "Ellie!"
Janos jerked him tight against his chest, one arm around his shoulders like an embrace. Jeff struggled against that arm, tried to run to his dead sister. I was with Janos on this one. The newly risen have a tendency to eat first and ask questions later. The thing that had once been Ellie Quinlan would have gladly torn out her baby brother's throat. She'd have bathed in the blood, and minutes, or days, or weeks later, she would realize what she'd done. She might even regret it.
"Go, Angela; go to Xavier," Janos said.
"A new name won't change who she was," I said.
Janos looked at me. "She is two years dead, and her name is Angela."
"Her name is Ellie," Jeff said. He'd stopped struggling, but he looked at his dead sister with fresh horror, as if just beginning to really see her.
"People will recognize her, Janos."
"We shall be careful, Anita. Our new angel will see no one that we do not wish."
"Well, isn't that cozy?" I said.
"It will be," he said, "once she has drunk her fill."
"I'm impressed that you dragged her this far without feeding her first."
"I did it." Xavier's voice was surprisingly pleasant. It was disturbing hearing that voice coming from that pale, ghostly face.
I looked at him, careful to avoid his gaze. "Impressive," I said.
"Andy brought her over, and I brought Andy over. I am her master."
Since Andy hadn't shown up, I was betting I'd killed him in the woods with Sheriff St. John. Probably not a good time to bring that up. "And who is your master?"
"Serephina, for now," Xavier said.
I glanced at Janos. "You haven't worked out which of you is top dog, have you?" I smiled.
"You waste our time, Anita. Our master awaits you eagerly. Let us finish this. Call our angel."
Xavier held out one pale hand. Ellie made a noise low in her throat, and scrambled on all fours over the raw dirt. The long black dress tangled around her legs. She tore at it impatiently. The cloth ripped like paper in her hands, the skirt shredding around her bare legs. She grabbed Xavier's hand like it was a lifeline. She bent over his wrist, and only his hand in her hair kept her from trying to feed on him.
"There is no sustenance for you from the dead, Angela," Janos said. "Feed on the living."
Pallas and Bettina knelt on either side of Stirling. Xavier fell gracefully beside Ms. Harrison, his black cape spread out around him like a pool of blood. He kept hold of Ellie's hair the whole way down, forcing her snarling face to touch the dirt. Her hands dug at his hands, mewling sounds crawling from her throat. Nothing that was human should have made sounds like that.
"Ms. Blake," Stirling said, "you're the law. You have to protect me."
"I thought you were going to see me in court, Raymond. Something about me attacking you and Ms. Harrison with zombies."
"I didn't mean it." He glanced up at the kneeling vampires, then back to me. "I won't tell. I won't tell anyone. Please."
I just looked at him. "Begging for mercy, Raymond?"
"Yes, yes, I'm begging."
"Like the mercy you showed Bayard?"
"Please."
Bettina caressed Stirling's cheek. He jerked like it had burned. "Please!"
Shit.
"We can't just watch," Larry said.
"You have another suggestion?"
"You never give anyone over to the monsters, not for any reason. It's a rule," he said.
It was my rule. I'd believed in it once, back when I'd been sure who the monsters were.
He was pulling the chain out from inside his shirt.