The Living Night (Book 1) Read Free Page B

“Well, we were
joined at the hip for years, you know. Ludwig and I. I’ve told you that much. Back
in the old days, we'd spend all our time together, just knocking about Europe without a care in the world, except what to fill
our stomachs with. Mostly beer, as it turned out."
    "You’ve changed so much it’s eerie."
    He laughed. “We were vagabonds, wanderers, both
still mortal at the time. Until we wound up in the French Revolution …”
    “Yeah?”
    In his mind’s eye he saw blood, and lots of it.
A limp form dangled from long arms, and a cold face stared at him, blood
dripping from its mouth.
    “Another time,” he said.
    She seemed about to protest when the cockpit
door opened and a man wearing a snake-skin jacket stepped out. He didn’t seem
bothered by the fact that the vampires were naked.
    "We're beginning our descent,” he said,
then hesitated.
    “Yes?"
    "It's just ... I don't know. We're getting
some weird readings on the instruments ... and the weather reports don't make
any sense. Strange cloud formations and wind patterns." He shrugged and
returned to the cockpit.
    “What do you think it means?” Danielle said.
    “I don’t know.”
    Wanting to see the odd cloud formations, Ruegger
moved to the window. She joined him, and they watched the clouds give way to an
all-consuming whiteness. Soon Ruegger could distinguish land features, then
Ludwig's compound itself, an arc of large buildings against a very white
nowhere; Ludwig called it Liberty.
    "Damn," Danielle whispered. "Do
you see that?"
    One of the main buildings along the arc appeared
burned, almost as if it had exploded, and its debris was scattered over the
snow. Ruegger had no idea what to make of it. Maybe some drunk revelers had
bombed the building.
    “Think it can have anything to do with us?”
Danielle said. “That we’re wanted dead?”
    “I don’t know, but keep an eye out.”
    The float-plane dove for the iced-over lake as
the vampires threw on clothes. Engines screamed and the winds howled. The
aircraft shuddered to a stop near the peer.
    A man on the outside helped Ruegger and Danielle
open the door. They stepped down onto the wooden planks, where they were given
snow-shoes. The ice-cold temperature didn’t bother Ruegger much, but he knew
Danielle must be freezing, and he caught her checking the buttons on her coat.
She said nothing about it.
    “Some welcoming party,” she said, only
stuttering slightly.
    Those who’d come to greet them included five
baggage-carriers, ten armed (but casually-dressed) shades whose postures were
so straight they had to be soldiers, a werewolf named Damaini ,
who was the Chief-of-Security for and third-in-command of the compound; and
Maleasoel, Ludwig's wife and vice-president of Liberty.
    She belonged to the immortal race of the
jandrow—winged creatures that fed off of human hearts, though another animal
could do in a pinch. Long black hair cascaded down her back, and bright green
eyes blazed from her beautiful face under a sharp black beret. Her wings were
hidden within the thick folds of her coat, which was part of a clothing line
designed and tailored especially for jandrows. Of course, she didn’t need to
hide her true nature here of all places, but the outfit kept her wings warm.
    She embraced Ruegger and Danielle both.
"Welcome back to Liberty,
my friends. Come with me. My associates will get your bags and Damaini will accompany us. Would you like your old
room?"
    "That would be great," Ruegger said.
    They all followed her as she set off, moving between
two buildings and emerging on the inside of the arc, an area referred to as the
Commons. Soldiers patrolled in large numbers, and a well-organized crew tended
to the remains of the gutted building, apparently trying to repair the
extensive damage. Burn marks stained the walls of the buildings to either side.
    “Dear gods,” Danielle said, and pointed.
    A line of ten or so immortals lay on the cold
ground, stripped naked and bound by