in her thoughts for the remainder of the day.
More hours, more marching, and they once again wound up right where they began. Back at the house that was becoming familiar to them all. Alfonzo was nearly apoplectic in his rage as he smashed the door in, sending it crashing into the wall. The handle stuck into the plastered surface. The rest of them stood on the sidewalk and listened to the sound of breaking furniture.
Eddie’s shoulders slumped, and he buried his head in his hands. “This started off as stupid, but now I think it’s insane.”
“I think you might be right,” Zadok-Bella muttered. “I do not feel as though he is thinking clearly.”
“What do we do?” Eddie looked at his false companion. Maxine did everything she could to be silent. If she said anything at all, she knew she might give the vampire up. Then the real Bella would be in grave danger. Maxine would have no more lives on her hands if she could help it.
“We could go our separate way from him,” Bella replied thoughtfully. “He will not turn back from this fight, no matter how hopeless it is.”
“We can’t leave him here. He’d…he wouldn’t stand a chance on his own.”
“I don’t know as we stand a chance if we stay by his side, Eddie.” Bella reached out and placed her hand on the young man’s arm. His face rose in hope. Zadok was playing on the boy’s broken heart. “But we could survive together without him. You and me.”
Damn you to Hell, Zadok. Damn you to the pits for this.
And damn Eddie for not seeing through the vampire’s ploy. Eddie was smiling at her with such a puppy-dog expression it forced Maxine to turn away to keep from revealing the game. She needed to hide her face and her look of horror and disgust. She could not have imagined that Zadok could have hidden himself for two days among the people who claimed to know Bella best.
But he was right. Eddie loved the idea of her and clung to the hope of a future with her through all the signs that something might be amiss.
The monsters around her always seemed to be right.
“What’s wrong, Maxine?” Bella asked.
The curses she rattled off in her head toward Zadok were colorful and creative. The Roma had taught her well. She was going to give him an earful when this was all said and done. “Nothing. I am tired. There is a cloud in this city of corruption, maliciousness, and lies. It is wearing me thin.”
“Yeah. It’s influencing all of us.” Eddie grunted. “C’mon. Tomorrow we’ll try to talk sense into Al again. Maybe if the three of us try to convince him, it’ll work.”
“I don’t think so.” Maxine turned back to them when she could swallow the urge to punch “Bella” in the face. “Sadly, I think there is little that will sway him from his need for revenge.”
“I know.” Eddie took off his leather hat to scratch over his dusty hair. He was in bad need of a bath. They all were. “But sometimes it’s not about winning, it’s about trying. Sometimes that’s all we’ve got to show for ourselves in the end.”
And with that, the young man plodded up the stairs after his leader who, by the sounds of it, was still intent on destroying furniture in his impotent rage.
“Who knew the whelp was a prophet?” Zadok snickered before nudging Maxine’s elbow. “I did not miss your jab, don’t worry. Come on, my dove. Tonight, I win my bet.” With that, the false huntress walked up the stairs, carrying Maxine’s chains. She had no choice but to follow.
She did not know what she dreaded more—spending another night in the house with the hunters, one of whom was irate, or fishing through the vampire’s head for some unknown reason.
They were about tied.
12
The hunters were silent all through dinner and into the evening. “Evening” being only the product of the clocks in the house and Alfonzo’s pocket watch keeping the time. The darkness never changed.
Maxine did nothing to try to break the silence or to spark up a conversation. Alfonzo appeared itching to break someone or scream, and she was not going to volunteer to be first in line to either event. She ate the scavenged food and took up her position lying on the sofa by the wall.
Bella offered to take the first shift, and Maxine knew why. Alfonzo and Eddie agreed, and they lay down on their makeshift